Under the moon we did hunt
by Nuredhel
Summary: Shoroya and Richard Devon is a seemingly normal couple, they have economical problems, an ordinary home, jobs, a peaceful life, or perhaps not? They have a terrible secret, a secret of which the rest of the World must remain oblivious. But then something happens, a New world welcomes them, or does it? Mystery/drama/adventure/hurt/Comfort/romance. M rated. OFC/OMC-Lotr characters.
1. The price we pay for our love

**Under the moon we did hunt**

**Chapter one: The price to pay for our love**

_**Standing here, where a dream once had a home.  
>Emptiness now calls,<br>where hope crumbled with the walls.  
>And I feel like dust, lighter than air.<br>Winged by the smallest prayer.  
>Destination anywhere.<strong>_

_**Walk for now.  
>Endless days alive somehow.<br>Keeping pace.**_

_**Staring, dreaming, cold rain, skin steaming.  
>Just some fog in my eyes.<br>Tides in my blood follow the pale moon  
>drawing my soul to the skies.<strong>_

_**Stars, they're skywide, forever burn.  
>Scars, you carve deep, but never learn.<strong>_

_**(Tarot: Tides)**_

She held the letter in her hand, staring at it. She did not know how long she had stood there, with that piece of paper in front of her eyes. The sunlight poured in through the window, turned the kitchen into a sauna. She swallowed, a feeling of nausea threatened to overwhelm her and she felt herself leaning heavily against the kitchen bench. What now? Yes indeed, what now? She tried to think rationally, to make sense of it but she couldn't. It was impossible, they wouldn't be able to make it, not with him standing there without a job.

The letter looked so anonymous, so ordinary but yet it was the end, the brutal death of their dreams. The name of their bank on top of it, then their names. Dear Mrs and Mr Devon it said, as if they indeed were dear to those goddamn leeches. Oh it was so polite, so sugar coated she felt like retching but it all boiled down to one message. The monthly payments on their mortgage had doubled, it said a lot about the crisis in the economy and so on and so forth but she knew the truth. Their neighbor hadn't received such a letter, and they were in worse trouble than she and her husband. But of course it made sense, Mrs West owned the bank director, he was her second cousin and terrified of her.

She laid the letter down on the bench with shivering hands, it was all that bitch, all of it. Mrs West owned the sawmill and the city council and almost everybody in town. Becoming an enemy of that harpy meant that you no longer had a future in this town, that was for sure. She stared out of the window without really seeing anything.

The problems had started little more than a year ago, Mrs West and her sissy of a husband had been living out east for some years. When she returned she had immediately started with that favorite hobby of her, stealing the husbands of other women. She had a fancy for the really tall masculine guys with an air of wilderness and savagery about them and she had immediately gone after Rick. Shoroya had to grin, her husband was really exactly what Mrs West was after, tall, handsome and a bit dangerous looking with thick black hair and flint grey eyes.

Rick hadn't given in for her charms at all, he had just calmly told the bitch that he was a married man and that unlike certain others he did honor his marriage vows. Mrs West had tried again several times to no prevail and Rick had been both infuriated and frustrated. She had nothing that tempted him, that wrinkly old bat still thought that her money made her irresistible but Rick had confessed to Shoroya that he'd rather fuck a piece of wood. He had worked on the sawmill for five years and managed to become one of the most trusted employees and then suddenly he was told to leave. The excuses as lame as they were hollow. Mrs West owned the sawmill, and now she was punishing them both for the rejection.

Rick had claimed that he should have given in and fucked that bitch to death and Shoroya had laughed and replied that he would have done the entire city a great favor if he had. She doubted that that old slut would have been able to cope with his energy and endurance. Shoroya was working in one of the very few enterprises in the city over which Mrs West had no influence. The dairy fabric where they made cheese and sour cream, Shoroya had worked there ever since she and her husband came to this city and she was both well liked and trusted. But her paycheck wouldn't be enough to pay for both their mortgage and their everyday expenses.

Rick had tried to find new work elsewhere in town but to no prevail, others got employed but not him, they all knew. If they gave Richard Devon a job Mrs West would be at their throats right away.

She heard the dodge in the drive way, the rumbling V8 engine had always had a calming effect on her, he was home, it would be alright. She took a deep breath, stared at her own reflection, she looked tired, worn out. She needed it now, badly. She wouldn't be able to control herself for much longer without performing the rite. He would help her, as he always did. She was so grateful she had him, so very grateful. He came in, placed a small bag of groceries onto a table and he immediately sensed that something was wrong. He immediately came over, pulled her into a warm embrace. "What is it love?"

She took a deep breath. "The mother of all shit!"

She gave him the letter and saw how the flint grey eyes followed the lines of writing. He cursed and his deep growling voice told her how angry he was, but he was in control of himself, he always was, he had to be. "That old harpy has done it this time, she has us pinned!"

Shoroya swallowed. "What are we to do?"

Rick grinned, a wicked grin. "I know what I want to do, but we can't. Not this close to home and not her, do not shit in your own nest remember?"

Shoroya sighed. "Yes, the rules, but damn how satisfying it would be."

He kissed her brow, rocked her in his arms. "We do what we always have done, we are done here, it is time to move on!"

She nodded. "But this was our home, damn it, it even felt like a home! It feels like rolling over, baring our throats, if smells of defeat dear."

He grinned and the grin was so soft and yet so sad. "I know, but it isn't. It is a new start, we do what we always do."

She swallowed hard and closed her eyes. The house was cozy and beautiful but there were no other way. "There is very little we need to bring along, the rest is just things we can get elsewhere too."

His voice reassuring. She shivered and leaned towards him, felt his strength as something as solid and real as the very earth itself. "Have you got what we need?"

He nodded. "As always, new papers, new identities. It is ready"

She had to sit down, stared at the familiar kitchen with blank eyes. "When?"

He sighed. "No point in delaying it, this weekend."

She stared at him, questions in her eyes. "Didn't we plan to….?"

He nodded. "Yes, we will kill two flies with one strike."

She felt a shudder fly through her again, the hairs did stand up along her neck and arms and she bit her lower lip. "You have found…one?"

Rick sat down, poured himself a cup of coffee and smiled, a thoughtful and yet grim smile. "Yes"

She took a deep breath. "And you are sure?"

He nodded. "Beyond any doubt, he is a legal target."

Shoroya closed her eyes, it was there again, clawing at her entrails, pulling at her very being. He put his hand over hers. "I can see it in you, how it hurts. But we don't have to wait that much longer now, it is okay my love, trust me."

She took a deep breath. "I do Rick, I trust you. But I wish it was another way."

He kissed her hand. "So do I of course, but we both know that there aren't. "

He got back up. "I will help you pack."

She kissed his hands. "You always do."

He smiled and kissed her brow. "It is my pleasure."

Shoroya lay next to Rick, listened to his slow steady breath and she tried to sleep but she couldn't. She should have gotten used to this by now. She had lost count of how many times they had done this. Left and turned their back to everything, home, friends, jobs. Here they had few friends and only she had a job. She had written a letter to her boss, explaining that some relative had fallen ill and that she and her husband had to leave on such short notice. The few belongings they felt that they needed were already packed into the dodge, it wasn't much. If need be they could survive in the wilds, and she sometimes wished that they could turn their backs to everything and do just that.

He moaned in his sleep and pulled her close, she sighed and allowed herself to relax. He was her everything, the only one able to understand, to cope with it all. To be with her was hard in itself, sometimes downright lethal but due to his own nature he could manage it. But of course it put strains on their relationship, and she was often in awe of how he managed to focus his energy onto the good things in order to forget about the less charming sides of it.

Shit, she should think positively, once she had done it again she would feel so much better and then they would look for a new place to live. Rick had thought about Canada this time, yes, that was tempting. Lots of wilderness, even cougars and wolf packs, it was an ideal place to hide and it had been a long time since they had lived there. She did slowly fall asleep, dreaming of white peaks and lovely landscapes devoid of humans. It was such a sweet dream.

The next morning they finished breakfast and emptied the fridge, most of the things there still stood where they used too and she swallowed hard and had to accept that it all was just things. It had no value except from the memories they carried and she would keep those in her mind.

Rick had rigged it all, the device was activated and he kissed her again. "Soon my love, tonight."

She shuddered, that desperate longing. "Yes."

They closed the door behind them, she didn't look back. It was just a house, just a place like countless others. Their neighbor saw them and waved her hands. "Hello Shoroya, Rick. Going camping?"

Rick grinned widely. "Actually we are going to Boston, an aunt of Shoroya has taken ill, pancreatic cancer, the entire family is going. She has got days left, nothing more."

Sandra gasped. "Oh dear, so terrible. Well, have a safe journey anyhow."

Rick nodded. "Thank you, and say hello to Dean, I guess we'll be back by the end of next week."

Shoroya got into the car, buckled up and he started it. She stared at him. "You are sure?"

He nodded. "Yes, it will blow up tonight, gas leak. There will be no doubt about it."

She took a deep breath. "That is great."

He kissed her quickly before backing out of the driveway. "It has to be this way dear, no DNA left."

She sighed. "Of course, I know, hooray for the modern age right?"

He grinned widely. "Yes, hooray!"

She got into a more comfortable position and placed her legs onto the dashboard. She was rather petite but elegant, with long black hair and creamy skin and those slant almond shaped eyes of soft brown. He stared at her. "My own little hunter."

She smiled back. "As are you, where are we going?"

He sighed. "You will see."

They drove for most of the day, did only stop to put gas in the car and eat. They drove east and turned into the mountains. He hadn't told her where they were heading but he never did until they reached the destination. He had looked at maps and even at satellite photos. He knew the area already and he found a side road and then he pulled into old forgotten roads used only by the lumber industry or local farmers. There were no houses but she saw lights ahead. It was some sort of a camp. Rick parked the car underneath a huge fir and immediately started covering it with tarp and camouflage netting. They put branches and straws into it and after just a little the car was almost impossible to see.

Shoroya stared at the lights in the distance, perhaps five miles away. "So, what's the deal this time?"

He sat down onto his haunches and opened a file. A photo was glued to it, a man with a very grumpy looking face, he did look like someone who probably never were satisfied with anything, and who constantly sought the errors of others without being able to see his own. She had met such people before. Rick made a grimace. "This one is a particularly nasty one. He is a teacher, teaches history and math and the students hate him. I don't blame them. He is very religious but he is a hypocrite of another world, I have tracked him on the web for a while now. He is nasty."

Shoroya licked her lips. "Tell me more."

He flicked a piece of paper over to her and she did read through it. It made her cringe. "He is pretending to be a twelve year old boy, or in some cases a thirteen year old girl. He has gotten a lot of pictures from unsuspecting kids and he is very active on some very disgusting forums and pages. I won't tell you even half of it."

She felt a bit sick. "Has he actually hurt anybody."

Rick nodded. "A twelve year old girl, two years ago. He raped her but the cops didn't manage to identify him, she went into shock and is still comatose. He left no DNA or anything. Then last year he molested a ten year old boy on the toilet of a train station. That was probably done on impulse but the kid didn't dare to tell anyone about it until it was too late. "

She growled. "The worst kind. Yes, he is a legal target, the evil ones are always the best right?"

He grinned, his eyes glowed in red for a second, revealing his true nature.

"Yes, we are doing the world a favor or what? The filth won't hurt another child again after tonight"

She got up. "The plan?"

Rick rolled the papers up, hid them in a secret compartment in the car. "I have made deal with the scumbag, I told him I was a fourteen year old girl and that I was attending that summer camp over there. I told him to meet me by the lake, over at the quarry at the end of it."

She grinned. "A nice choice, how much time do we have?"

He smiled, took a look at his watch. "Three hours."

She closed her eyes, she was sweating already and her skin tingled. "That is enough. So, let's get at it."

He smiled, his eyes gentle and filled with love. "Yes, let's."

He removed his watch, his clothes and rings, then he helped her undress and he caressed her lovingly, using hands and lips and tongue and she gasped with the bliss of it. She could let herself loose, didn't have to stop it. Only now could they go all the way, only now could they make love for real. It was so rare that they had this possibility and it had to be that more treasured. She had learned to satisfy him orally or with her hands for it was only intercourse that triggered her transformation but it didn't really fully satisfy in the long run. And he was so understanding and she didn't really miss anything except that level of total intimacy. She let herself get lost in their passion, in their unbridled lust and love and she knew that it was just the same to him.

It was hard on him, seeing her every day, wanting her and not being able to be with her, not the way he would have wanted anyhow. Theirs was a strange marriage indeed. It had lasted decades and still the flame was just as fierce as it had been to begin with, it would never burn down.

She moaned his name, heard him gasp as he released, they had learned to be quiet, to keep their voices down. She wanted to scream his name, let the world know of their love, of their pleasure but she couldn't. Also this had to be shared in darkness, in silence. She came several times and so did he, he was much more enduring than any human and the passion in him burned as brightly as any open flame. It took a lot to sate him and it was the same with her but they did match, completely.

She lay next to him, stared at the skies, the sweat made her skin shimmer and he was an amazing sight, the lean muscular body so masculine and so elegant. She didn't have to wait for long before she felt it starting, she had waited for too long, this would be a hard one. "It has begun."

He got up, stared at her with compassion in his eyes. "I am here love, trust me, I won't leave."

She gasped, fought her way back up onto knees and hands, her head spinning, her body feeling sore, too small, twisted and wrong. "I know"

She saw that he took two steps back, then he shifted, to him it was quick, done in seconds. Suddenly a wolf stood where he had been, a wolf the size of a horse. He was black and wonderful with red eyes and the sparkly white teeth seemed to almost glow in the moonlight.

Shoroya had no voice while she transformed, she couldn't make any sounds and that was good for it was unbearably painful. She felt trapped inside of a cage of flesh that was being pulled and twisted and tortured and it took five minutes since it was more than two years since the last time she had done it. When it was done she just lay there, panting and growling and feeling confused and tired.

She shook herself, the good feeling came rushing, the feeling of finally being who she really was, of being in her right body. She got up, her tail swinging and she licked her mouth and snarled in anticipation. She was magnificent and she saw it in his eyes. A black panther, twice the size of a fully grown tiger. She grew with every transformation, she had started off as a normal sized cat but years had added to her strength and might and now she was almost as large as he was. The wolf growled affectionately and she purred and pushed her head affectionately towards him. The wolf nodded and she followed the giant canine on stealthy paws.

They ran through the forest and she felt free, unrestrained, happy. This was what life was supposed to be and she wished that they could stay like this but these days it was impossible. Someone would see them and panic would follow. She followed him and they found the quarry rather fast. It was closed, a place no longer in use and covered with bushes and old rusty equipment, it smelled of leaking oil and decay and they hid behind some boulders. The wolf nodded slowly, now it was a waiting game.

She sat down, licked her paws, stretched, familiarized herself with her body. There was a light in the distance, it moved and she tensed up. A car came up the old gravel road towards the entrance. It was a sedan, not new and rather worn, anonymous. There were thousands of cars like that out there. The car stopped by the small shack at the opening to the quarry itself, a man got out and she felt Rick's voice in her head. "Soon, follow my cue."

Franklyn Peters had been driving for hours, he was tired but filled with a tingling excitement, he was almost shivering. That girl he had chatted with, such a little slut. Of course she hadn't mentioned anything about what she really wanted but it was so obvious wasn't it? You could read it between the lines. She wanted to be fucked, they all wanted that. Wanton whores, that was all that they were, what all women were. Seductive daughters of Lilith, the devils temptresses, put here just to test the strength of the faithful.

Oh but he was strong, he wouldn't give in to the devils games, he would show his worth in the eyes of the good lord. He would punish her for her sinful behavior yes, yes he would. He always did, and it was such a gift to see how his sacred words changed them before he rid the world of that sinful tainted flesh of theirs.

He was panting, his pants uncomfortably tight and he already knew what he would do with this one. He had ropes and hand cuffs in the trunk of his car, yes, he would make her repent, again and again. He would purge his body of the sinful lust she installed in him and that disgusting tainted seed and she would have to take it all. He would cleanse himself, the whore of Satan would take all of the wickedness with her to hell where she truly belonged and he would be pure once more. Free to do more of the lord's good work.

Oh the sinfulness of the world, how he saw it every day. The wenches, whores. Low cut tops, short skirts and bikinis, they did it on purpose, to taunt and torment him. They didn't know that he was the lord's soldier, that he would rid the world of them, one at a time. His mission was holy and sacred, it could not be stopped by anyone. Oh there were good women out there but they all looked at him with such scorn, with disgust even. He didn't know why, but of course, they were all dry old spinsters with thick glasses and flappy sagging breasts. Why should he pay attention to those when there were so many sinful souls out there awaiting the good lord's judgment?

He took a look around, there was nobody there, had that little tramp been delayed, was she perhaps fucking the camp teachers? It wouldn't surprise him, she didn't know who it was that waited for her, her redeemer. He walked towards the remains of an excavator, the huge machine looked like the decaying skeleton of some huge prehistoric beast in the darkness, like a goddamn dinosaur or something. His colleagues had that expression of distaste on their faces whenever they spoke to him, they despised him. He was of course so much smarter than they were and he was a chosen one.

Of course they did envy him, he had the power of the lord in him, was his knight. How pitiful they all were, how pathetic. Their empty little lives, dancing around that golden calf called money while he, he was guaranteed his place beside the lord when his time came to leave this tainted earth. But that wouldn't happen soon, of course not. He would live for a long time doing the lords work and when his final hour came he would be welcomed by the angels choir and the lord would let him rest beside him on the throne, he didn't deserve less.

He was getting impatient, then he heard a sound. A twig snapped and he whipped his head around, what he saw made him squeak like a bath toy and he pissed himself. His erection had disappeared like dewdrops for the sun and his legs shivering. It was a wolf, a giant wolf. There are no such things, the sane part of his brain tried to make sense of what he saw but couldn't. A wolf of Satan, black with red eyes, of course, his enemy tried to get rid of him. He had sent too many of the devils loyal temptresses down to him.

He pulled his cross out, backed away from the terrifying creature with the sacred symbol held high. "Be gone, spawn of hell, I command thee in the name of the lord"

The wolf laughed, no other word could describe it. It continued to walk forth while it licked it's jaws. The cross didn't work? He turned to run and that was the last thing he ever did. He stared straight into a pair of huge yellow eyes and a giant paw hit him square in the chest. He flew backwards, didn't have time to scream before powerful jaws closed around his head and crushed it like you would crush an egg. His last thought was "Why has the lord betrayed me?"

Shoroya spat, used her paw to clean her tongue and teeth of the disgusting blood and flesh. Humans didn't taste good at all, but it was needed. She felt better, her energy surged. Rick changed back, he was naked but it didn't bother him at all. He grasped the corpse and placed it underneath some unstable rocks, then he let a couple fall onto the head, made it look like an accident. As if the man had tried to hide something between the boulders and set off a small avalanche. When he was done nobody would be able to see the real cause of death and he walked over to the car, popped the trunk and grinned. "See? Hypocritical bastard"

He took out a small box, it contained some items that made him cringe, hairpins, jewelry, souvenirs and trophy's from the dead man's victims. He shoved the box into the dead guys hand and then he used a branch to remove their own footprints and paw prints. Shoroya stood there and he turned once more, bared his teeth. "Wanna hunt for real?"

She nodded. "Yes, lets. "

A short hour later they shared a rabbit and laid underneath a pine just relaxing. She purred and wished that she could stay like this forever. But it wasn't possible, it didn't work that way. She could choose when she wanted to change back now but it only worked one way. They would have to make love for her to become the panther again and she had to kill a human to take human shape once she was the cat. It was the way it always had been. It was the price she had to pay. They heard the sound of thunder in the distance and retreated back to the truck, it had started to rain now and it was really pouring down. When they got to the truck lightning shot through the skies and the thunder claps made the ground shake. Rick changed back and so did she, it always felt like a failure, like a defeat. She wouldn't feel that power again for a long time, not until they found another possible target. Never kill the innocent, that was their rule, always go for the one's whom nobody would miss and who 's death would benefit the world.

She shivered, got her clothes back on, he did the same and kissed her lovingly. "Feel any better?"

She nodded. "Yes, very much so."

He grinned and let his fingers glide through her hair. "You look better, years younger again."

She nodded and knew he was right, it had renewed her. "I know, but I still miss it, being who I really am."

He nuzzled her neck. "Of course you do my love."

The thunder got closer and they got into the car, they would spend the night there now. She pulled her blanket around her and leaned against him, he was as warm as always, like an oven. His eyes gazed out at the rain and the flashes of light. "That is one hell of a storm, I have never seen anything like it. "

She nodded. "Me neither, the forecast didn't tell of a storm?"

He shook his head. "No it didn't, it told of clear skies. Strange."

She was glad they were in the car, if lightning struck they would be safe there. The car worked like a Faraday cage and would protect them. Then there was an almighty crash and a flash so bright it made her blind for a few seconds. She squealed and held her hands in front of her face and the whole car jumped and she heard the tires explode. Holy heck, we been hit, that was the last thing she had time to think before the world sort of dropped beneath them and she felt Rick pull her tight to protect her. Then it all went completely black.


	2. Strangers in a strange land

For anybody wondering, yes. Shoroya is a member of the cat people, if you have seen the old movie you will know what I am talking about. I have added the increase in size though, thought that an ordinary sized panther wasn't big enough.

Chapter two: Strangers in a strange land

Shoroya opened her eyes with a groan, she shuddered and blinked, it was almost complete darkness around her but she did see better in the dark than a human would. She instantly reached out to find Rick and to her relief she felt his warm body next to her. "Are you alright love?"

His voice was a bit nervous and she concentrated on checking for any pain, there was none, just a slight discomfort. Then she noticed that she was sitting in a very awkward position and she twisted herself around and saw that the car now had a distinct u shape. "What happened?"

Rick was working to get out from underneath the dashboard, he broke off the steering wheel and pushed himself free. "Are you hurt?"

Her voice had a hint of panic in it but he reached out and found her face in the dark, caressed her gently. "No, I am alright, worry not. I can take some beating you know."

She nodded and tried to access the damage. Rick sighed. "I was fond of this car, damn it!"

Shoroya tried to take a peek out but the tarp was in the way and it was pitch black out there. She remembered the lightning and Rick took a deep breath. "Thank goodness the gas tank didn't break, then it would have been goodbye cruel world."

She cringed and found her jacket, the contents of the cabin had been tossed around but Rick managed to find a flashlight, it had a magnet on it so it had been stuck to the dashboard, it had just moved a bit. It was a chaos, things everywhere and they managed to get stuff under control with some moves that would have made any gymnast green with envy. Shoroya even stood on her head trying to dislodge a packet of batteries from underneath the seat. Rick took a deep breath before he kicked the door on his side open and lifted the tarp. Immediately the scent of forest seeped in, fresh and cool and filled with a vitality neither of them had sensed in a long time. He slid out and she heard his voice. "Sweetheart? I…don't think we are in Kansas anymore…"

She hurried, crawled out and stood beside him. Her eyes were wide with shock and her mouth wide open too. They were in a forest, a forest with giant trees, they looked like redwoods but the bark looked more like normal pine trees and the smell of them was heavenly. The reason the car was u shaped was that it was lodged in between two of the giant trees and they had bent it. There were no lake to be seen, just wood and up above was a starry sky so clear it was breathtaking. Shoroya lifted her face and stared at the stars, they were so clear it was insane and she didn't recognize any of the constellations. Rick was sniffing the air, his face filled with disbelief. "Do you smell that? No pollution? "

She nodded, her senses were very keen and she got up onto the bonnet and sniffed to. No, not even smoke. She swallowed hard. What had happened? She turned to Rick, his eyes were glowing red now, he was letting his other side show, keeping it close just in case. "Do you think we are dead?"

Her voice was low and a bit nervous and he shrugged. "How the hell should I know? I don't think so, I don't feel very dead if that is what you mean."

Shoroya put on a wry grin but her eyes were still nervous. "Neither do I, but we are somewhere we never have been before. I don't recognize those trees, and the stars are alien too."

Rick made a grimace. "Well, your guess is as good as mine."

He listened, closed his eyes. "It is pretty silent here. I think we should stay until daylight comes, then we can see what we have and take it from there. I don't think there is any point in staying right here, the car is totaled and even if it wasn't there is no roads here. "

She put her hands into her pockets, feeling very confused and frightened still. "Alright, lets rest. Maybe we can make some sense of this tomorrow."

They got back into the car, Shoroya knew that she didn't have to worry about getting hungry for quite some time, and neither did he. That was at least a good thing. Shoroya found a blanket and they cuddled up underneath it. She just relaxed and allowed herself to go to sleep, luckily she had quite a lot of training in doing just that.

She woke up feeling a bit cold, Rick was on the outside and he was whistling and going through the stuff that had been in the back of the pickup. She crawled out and he grinned. "Good morning dear, how do you feel?"

She combed her hair with her fingers. "Like shit, I bet I have bruises all over."

He just grinned and lifted a bag out of the destroyed car. "Until now we have two sleeping bags, two sets of good warm outdoor clothes each. Our camping equipment is intact, and so is your bow and quiver. We have two flashlights plus the small one in the car, four packs of batteries. Fishing equipment, two hunting knives and your machete. Blankets, boots, two backpacks, a first aid kit, a packet of beef jerky, six snickers bars and a bottle of whiskey. Then we have the rest of our belongings which I fear we have no use for here whatsoever."

Shoroya recognized the bag, it contained clothes. "Such as?"

Rick chuckled. "Some magazines, a couple of books, a box of watercolors and some broken furniture. We do also have a ball gown, a pair of high heeled shoes and some make up. If you want to bring those things, then you carry them!"

Shoroya shrugged. "I'd might as well do just that, we don't have any cheap glass beads to bribe the natives now do we?"

Rick grinned widely. "Nope, not much of that. I suggest we stuff all that we can into the back packs and leave soon."

She nodded and went through the bag with her clothes. She left much of her summer clothes but did take all of her underwear and her bra's and t-shirts. She did also find her bag of cosmetics and make up, two packets of tampons and a box of aspirin. Rick packed the rest of their things and Shoroya was a bit sad that much had to be left behind. She did bring her favorite books though, one with pictures of the grand national parks of the world and another one which was an illustrated guide to dog and horse breeds. A person she knew had made it and it was rather dear to her. She did also take a fashion magazine and a cooking magazine and one with a lot of tricks for the eager angler. And of course a few comic books and a small book with jokes.

She felt as though she needed something to remind her of who she had been, if this was some other world of something like that she wanted to have something of home, something to hold onto. She did also add her jewelry box, she didn't have much but the few things she did have was very nice, gathered over many years. She took her favorite necklace and put it on, why she didn't really know but she had always thought that it could bring her luck. It was an amethyst and it hadn't been shaped, just polished and it hang from a very simple silver chain. She hid it underneath her clothes and got on some really warm and good socks before she pulled her hiking boots on.

Rick was in a way impatient, he had a compass he had pulled out of the car and he stared at it. "This claims that north is that way but it doesn't feel right at all."

She nodded. "I think we can forget about those things, we just walk until we see something useful, something we can draw some conclusions from."

He put the compass into a pocket, shrugged and started walking. Shoroya followed right behind him and she was stunned by the lushness of this forest, the light was a bit golden and the colors told her that this was late summer, not autumn yet but it would be, soon. They crossed animal tracks and small streams and nowhere did they see any sign of activity of any kind except that of nature itself. No real paths, no roads nor buildings of any sort. When the sun reached the top of its orbit they took a break and rested, they had met a rather large river and Rick decided that it could be a good idea to follow it. Shoroya didn't see why not and the forest was still peaceful. He stared out into the shaded landscape and there was something about his demeanor that told her he was worried. "What is it love?"

He just made a vague gesture. "Oh, I just thought, what if there aren't any people here? What if we are the only ones?"

She cringed. "Why do you say that?"

He leaned his chin into his hand and stared at her. "Not that it is bad in any way but you know, no humans? It will get lonely and…"

She got pale. "I see the problem yes. There has to be people here, somewhere."

He just sighed. "Let's hope so, I think we might go insane if we are to live out all of our days without ever seeing any others than just us two."

She got up. "Well, we will never find anyone if we don't move on now do we?"

He got up too, brushed needles from his pants. "Quite right."

Shoroya felt that this forest seemed almost welcoming in some ways, she felt a strange tingling whenever she touched the trees and she felt so very much alive, so full of energy. They did see some deer of in the distance but the animals seemed to be more curious than afraid and some squirrels were racing up and down the trees making quite a lot racket. Shoroya giggled as she watched them scurrying around, they were so cute and she had always loved animals, she didn't like to hurt them and when they hunted they only took what they needed to survive, never more. The terrain changed, became more rocky and rolling hills gave way for steeper valleys and cliffs.

Then they suddenly stood on a naked hill that gave them a view of the area and Rick let out a strange sigh. Shoroya could understand him, it was a stunning sight. A forest land stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction, the canopy had colors that were stunning. Bright green, darker green, bluish and red and golden and brown, and the sky so clear and blue. She stared at it, tears in her eyes. "Is this paradise?"

Rick took a deep breath, equally moved. "I don't know, but it does certainly look like that."

He pointed out towards what had to be the north west. "I think I can spot a lake far far away in the distance, and a river."

Shoroya put a hand up over her eyes. "And a mountain, behind it, but it is very far away."

Rick nodded and stretched. "Yes, and I don't see a single thing that tells me there are people here."

She bit her lower lip. "Someone has to live here don't you think?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes, I am sure that someone lives here, the question is who?"

She turned her head and he made a grimace. "I smelled something when we crossed that glen back by the small river, an hour or so ago, and I didn't like it. It smelled wrong, I think it was an animal but not a normal one."

She got nervous. "Why do you say that?"

Rick had taken his jacket off, it was rather warm and his strong tanned body told her of his amazing strength but it did also warn anybody with less than honest intents that he could fight. "It smelled a bit like a wolf, but not really wolf, and it was something else there too, something…wicked."

He turned around and hugged her. "We head towards that lake area, and tonight we do camp up in the trees. I think we are far from being alone here."

Shoroya frowned. "I haven't felt anything of that kind? And my nose is in fact just as good as yours."

He nodded. "Yes, but you aren't as tall as me!"

She had to agree on that, she was petite in her human form and most believed that she could be no more than in her mid-twenties, the truth would have shocked them.

They started walking down hill, the forest was filled with birdsong and Shoroya did take the time to pick some nuts she gathered into her bandana. She wasn't really hungry yet but she knew that it could be necessary with some extra calories. She had been feeling very well that day, stronger somehow, renewed and it was a sensation she usually only got when she was able to transform. Could it be that this different place had made her different too? Could it be that she would be able to shift when she wanted to, like Rick? But would she be able to change back or would she still have to kill a human?

Rick nodded at her. "Take out your bow, I feel as though it could be wise."

Shoroya had taken up archery on the last place they had lived and she had gotten good, she had a carbon fiber bow that was both light and very strong and she sighed and obeyed, she did trust Rick's instincts and when he told her to arm herself it meant it. He had stopped and she could see that his nose shivered, his eyes glowing red. Shoroya felt that the hairs stood up on the back of her neck and she saw that he removed his boots and shirt and stood there in just his pants, he was tilting his head, letting his keen senses search the area. They moved forth slowly and Shoroya felt something new. The forest had gone quiet, too quiet. Not a bird sang and the trees felt different, she felt something akin to fear from them.

Rick pointed at some ragged rocks up ahead, he walked towards them, his eyes held towards the ground. "Something is watching us, I am gonna shift, go up among those rocks. "

Shoroya obeyed, she trusted his keen senses, he was far more used to fighting than she was and she ran towards the rocks as swiftly as she could. She got up and Rick had already gotten rid of his pants and shifted. He was taking cover behind some boulders and Shoroya did the same, she could feel something coming, it was as if the very earth itself groaned in disgust.

There was a sound of something running, something heavy, she caught a scent on the wind and it made her wince and wrinkle her nose in disgust. She had taken cover and she peered out from a crack behind the rocks, what she saw made her gasp. Three huge grotesque animals which did resemble a wolf in some ways but they were twisted and looked just evil. On top of them sat three equally terrible riders, some scarred mangled parody of life. Shoroya had seen zombies in movies that looked rather cozy compared with these. They wore crude metal armor and had some terrible objects attached to themselves. Bones, small sculls, metal ornaments and crude tattoos and scarifications, they looked horrible.

Shoroya saw the small eyes, rotten teeth and brutish appearance and she didn't have to think twice, these were evil creatures. The three animals growled and slowed down and sniffed the air, She knew that they had been tracking her and Rick and now they were trying to find them. The wolf creatures were big but their anatomy looked wrong, as if their heads were too big for their bodies and they were fast but not very elegant. They were probably half of his wolf size but there were three of them and the riders carried bows and swords. At least they didn't have guns.

Shoroya swallowed and moved her bow and quiver, picked up some arrows and laid them beside herself, the creatures were moving forth again and she heard Rick's voice in her head, they shared a rather unique bond and it was their age and experience that had made it possible. "Shoot the riders, now!"

Shoroya obeyed right away, she had arrows with armor piercing heads and she had trained on moving targets, she was able to keep five arrows in the air at one time. The ancient longbow men of old England were said to have been able to have twelve arrows airborne at once and she didn't doubt it. She moved as the cat that she was, swift and with no sound. Her first arrow whistled through the air and her second was well on the way as the first one burrowed itself into the temple of the first rider. The second one didn't have time to notice that something was wrong with number one before also he tumbled from his mount and fell. Her third arrow did pierce the throat of number three as he had moved slightly after the arrow left her bow and not even her arrows could change course while in the air.

The creature fell with a gargling sound, grasping his throat but his final moments were short although painful as he drowned in his own blood. The mounts snarled, confused and angry and they were not sure of what to do. Rick attacked so fast it seemed as if he suddenly just was there, as if he came out of the thin air itself. The first wolf monster did have time to notice a huge black shadow and then massive jaw closed shut over its shoulders, crushed its spine and its final breath was used to produce a thin whimper.

The second monster did spring forth to attack the giant wolf but Rick was so terribly fast. The giant black wolf crushed the front of its face with one bite, then he went low and ripped the throat out of the beast. The third one hesitated, and it was its last and most stupid deed. An arrow lodged itself in its brain, it had gone straight through its eye and it fell immediately.

Rick just shook himself and the red eyes stared at the beasts, they were uglier than even a hyena and stunk of rancid old carcasses. Shoroya jumped down from the rocks and pulled her arrows out of the carcasses, she could use them again. Rick nodded his head. "Tie the packs to my back, I will carry them and you. We have to move swiftly, I want as much space between those monsters and ourselves as we can."

She tilted her head. "Are you sure of this?"

He showed his long white teeth. "Of course love, I am strong enough to carry three of your size."

She obeyed, tied their backpacks together and put them onto him and she got up and held her bow in her hand and her quiver by her side. Rick started running in a steady trot, the huge wolf didn't tire easily and Shoroya knew that they needed a safe place to spend the night. With that sort of monsters around there was no way to tell if something even worse could be lurking around the next corner. When in wolf shape Rick's senses were even sharper and he used his nose all the time, they crossed a few streams and he did run in the water and did run in zig zag patterns and ran back in his own tracks too to fool any followers.

When the sun started to descend towards the horizon they entered a forest area with a different sort of trees, they were not so tall or with such huge circumference but they were just as beautiful and the forest floor was rather open and filled with light. Rick slowed down, his nose shivered. "I smell something different here, something ancient but strong"

Shoroya nodded, there was indeed something there, something in the air. A sort of melancholy, a feeling of loss and longing, it was as if the trees were humming a silent lament for something or someone they had lost. Rick stopped. "You can get off, I don't think there are more monsters here, it feels better than before, as if there is no such evil in this area."

She got down and he shifted back, got his clothes back on and he stared at the ground, used his knife to remove some soil and roots. "See? This was a road once, it was paved with rocks"

She frowned and sat down, stared at the small patch he unearthed. "You are right, and roads lead somewhere."

He got up, his eyes narrow and distant. "It has been centuries since this road was in use, I just hope that it went out of use because of mundane reasons, not because of those monsters."

She agreed and they walked on, the old road was not easily spotted but their keen eyes could spot the change in the landscape. They kept walking for about two hours and the changes became clear, there were trees growing along the path that weren't natural for this sort of forest, it had been a garden there once upon a time. There were something that had to have been statues along the path and here and there the stones were up in broad daylight and she could see that someone had placed them there with great care and skill. The forest was very open and here and there they saw shapes that had to be the foundations of buildings long gone. There were more of them as they walked up towards a low hill between two taller more imposing ones.

Rick took a deep breath. "See? The area has been very well organized sometime long ago, it has been a park and a lot of walls and such. I think this could have been some sort of city perhaps?"

Shoroya shook her head. "No, it is too grand, to laid out to impress. It must have been a palace or a temple or something like that."

They walked up what had to be the remains of a very elaborate stair, the steps very low and deep and you could probably ride a horse up there easily but no carriages or wagons could cross. The feeling of melancholy was even stronger here, as if the very forest was sighing over and over again, why did you leave us behind? Why did you abandon us?

Shoroya gasped, she immediately knew she had been right, this had been a palace, but not like any she had ever seen before. It had been made from wood and most of it had crumbled to the ground and showed only as mounds of rotten wood covered with moss but what had been a side wing was still standing although ready to crumble to. Rick whistled. "Damn, look at the size of the foundations? This must have been the Versailles of this world?"

Shoroya crinkled her forehead. "Weird though, that they have used only wood? It doesn't last very long now does it?"

Rick nodded. "Well, there are ways to treat wood that can make it very resistant to the ravages of time. And there could be species of trees here much harder than the trees we have back home."

She turned around, there were something here and there that could have been stone gates and statues but they were so ruined it was impossible to see what they had been originally. "They have used very little stone but from what I see they were quite capable of creating both masonry and stone carvings."

Rick just shrugged. "Maybe wood means something special to those who built this? It looks as if this is a woodland? "

Shoroya walked up towards the small part of the grand building that still stood there, its roof was more or less intact and probably built in a different way than the rest of the building, it looked as if thin plates of slate had been covering it and even though the walls did bulge outwards it stood there with a sort of proud defiance. Rick studied the structure with narrow eyes. "I have not seen this method of building for quite a while but darn, it is well done. It has been notched, see? The timber has been carefully put together, and then carved and smoothed out. It must have been so beautiful."

Shoroya nodded and she found a door, it was ajar and vines were covering it but she could get through and he followed her. The room was leaking of course, but it was also rather intact. Elegant columns had carried the roof, carved to look like tall beeches and balustrades and details were formed like vines and branches with leaves and flowers. The floor was made from polished marble and it was still shiny. The room was dominated by an empty dais at the end of it and she could see that there had been made room for either portraits or tapestries on the still beautiful walls. Rick took a look around, he swallowed hard. The room had such an atmosphere of reverence, of peaceful power and he almost expected to see someone coming to polish the floor or put a throne up onto the dais.

Shoroya whispered. "I think this was a throne room of some sorts."

Rick nodded. "So do I, a place where a king might greet his guests. Look how intricate those carvings are? Damn this place is gorgeous."

She noticed a statue that was placed at the back of the room, a window had once brought light into the room, it was gone now but she guessed that the statue had been quite glorious when lighted by the many colored lights from a glass painting. She walked towards it, it was a likeness of a woman with her arms raised above her head and her head tilted to one side, her right leg lifted slightly and a dreamy expression upon her face. A bird had built a nest on top of her head and droppings covered what had been painstakingly carved hair but it couldn't hide or ruin her beauty. She was dancing, abandoning herself in the dance and Shoroya had never seen a more beautiful statue. It was such a pity that it was left there, where nobody could see it. Shoroya studied the young face, it had to be a rather young girl and yet something about the statue spoke of experience, power even. She admired the long flowing hair, every hair was visible and she walked to the other side and started. On this side an ear was visible and it was pointy. "Rick? I don't think those who made this were human."

He came over and stared at her finding, he tilted his head. "I am not amazed, we are so far from home I can't even begin to understand it. Pointy ears? I suppose they weren't Vulcans?"

She heard he was teasing her and she just scoffed. "Elves have pointy ears, and look very pretty."

Rick was about to answer her when he suddenly noticed something on the base of the statue, he bent down and let out a small gasp. It was a stump of a candle and beside it the remains of a bouquet of flowers. It had laid there for some months but not more. "Shoroya, I don't think they are completely gone after all."

She stared at the dead flowers. "Someone loved her, and loves her still, and remembers."

Rick just sighed. "Then we are likely to encounter elves, good to know."

Shoroya saw that the light was getting weaker by the minute and sighed. "Do we rest here tonight?"

Rick nodded. "I feel safe here somehow, it has a sort of peace to it this place."

Shoroya nodded. "I know, but it feels sad somehow."

He grinned. "Yes, but why did they abandon this place? It was a huge palace damn it, and from what I can see extremely beautiful and well made."

She shrugged. "I don't know? Maybe they got tired of this place and wanted to relocate?"

Rick sat down and stretched his legs. "Anyhow, I am glad we found it, are you hungry?"

She shook her head. The weird tingling had gotten stronger ever since they found that old road and now it was making her skin twitch and she felt restless. "No, but I want to take a walk around the perimeter just to check things out."

She got out again and walked through the remains of what had to have been a huge structure, she could imagine grand halls and beautiful rooms filled with light and laugher and if she closed her eyes she almost heard a sort of echo of it all still, like the long forgotten harmonies of a song once sung. It felt so sad, and it made her heart ache. She found a bush that once had been pruned and fertilized, it had some roses blooming still but they were small and not very flashy but still pretty. She picked a few with reverence and when she returned to the room she laid them at the feet of the statue with a sort of a smile. "I don't know who you were, but I am sure someone loved you dearly, and they are still remembering you, So I guess you are worthy of some respect, whoever you were."

Rick had unwrapped their sleeping bags and she got her shoes off and crawled into her bag. He sat on the dais and stared up at the holes in the roof where the first stars appeared. His eyes were filled with wonder and awe and she understood him. "I will take first watch, sleep for a few hours love."

She just nodded and curled herself up into a ball before she allowed her fatigue to overcome her and she fell asleep. Rick remained where he was, he stared at the alien sky and enjoyed the peace. Some night birds were singing and he could not remember having felt this at home ever. It was a peculiar sensation but he felt a sort of deep truth permeate his very being. He was more at home here than he had been back home. It was as if some part of his soul recognized something he had been missing without even being aware of it and now it was finally there again and he was whole. He stared up, one star was particularly bright and it looked as if it was closer than the rest? This was apparently a world with very little technology if they had any at all, had he back home he would have said it was a satellite or space station in a very low orbit. Perhaps it was a small asteroid or something, caught in a tight orbit?

He relaxed and listened to Shoroya's steady breathing. She was his everything and he was ready to do whatever he could to make sure that she was safe. If there were elves there then this world had intelligent life and plenty of it, they would have to be careful so they didn't create enemies for themselves inadvertently. He knew next to nothing about elves, he had never been a lover of fantasy but he had managed to learn that they were superior to humans, at least they were that in most mythologies he knew of. He hoped that they would learn some more about the world they had entered the next day.

Alatar and some of his fellow warriors had been out hunting when they first found the tracks of three warg-riders, it was rare that orcs travelled in such small groups and they suspected that these were scouts or spies. That had to be checked out and they followed the tracks, but after a while it became apparent that the orc too had been tracking someone. The keen eyes of the elves saw two tracks, of someone with strange footwear , one large and one much smaller person and they got a sense of foreboding. If the orcs had caught these two persons they were dead and the elves had never seen such footprints before and didn't know with who or what they were dealing.

They immediately started moving with greater speed and their ears and eyes were very sensitive but didn't pick up anything until the stench of death reached them. The elves slowed down, arrows knocked and swords drawn but what they found was not what they had expected at all. The orcs and their wargs were dead, laying there in a heap of bloody torn meat and bone and Alatar gasped and moved forth with the taste of bile in his mouth. The orcs had been killed by arrows, very precise shots which were deadly on impact. He had problems imagining three huge orc warriors being felled so fast but the evidence was very clear. The arrows had been retrieved and the wounds were very clean, as if the arrow heads had been extremely sharp and hard.

The wargs were a different case, at least two of them, something had crushed the back and spine of one of them and ripped the throat out of the other one after having crushed its maw completely. His best tracker, Hauraron stared at the wounds and his eyes were huge with disbelief. "I think these wounds were made by a wolf, and I see wolf tracks here but they are gigantic, the animal must be the size of a horse."

Alatar swallowed hard and bent down, stared at the tracks, one of the other elves walked around. "There are tracks leading away from here, but just the wolf 's, they are deep though, as if it was carrying one of the persons? I see no trace of the second person, the one with the huge feet."

Alatar turned around. "Because the second person is the wolf, it is a shape shifter, like the Beornings. The smaller person is riding it I bet. "

Hauraron looked a bit shocked. "I thought that all shape shifters were giant bears? Not wolves?"

Alatar nodded sternly. "They are, now. There are old sagas telling of such creatures fighting both on the side of Morgoth and on our side in the great wars of old, but they were extinct ages ago, or so I thought."

The other warriors stared at him. "What do we do?"

Alatar clenched his jaws together. "We track it, it did kill those wargs and the smaller person the orcs, that could mean that these are our friends or neutral, but we have to know for sure. They are heading towards Emyn Duir, we can get there by the morrow."

The other elves just nodded and walked on and Alatar felt a bit nervous, the savagery of the kills scared him, he knew that a beorning was almost indestructible in its bear form so he would suppose that the wolf equivalent of one was pretty hard to kill too. And what about the smaller person? Who or what was that? It had to be the archer and he was a bit in awe of the obvious skill.

The elves starting running at a light jog, the forest would warn them of any dangers ahead. Alatar was getting both curious and confused, he had never encountered anything like this and he was pretty new as a captain. He would have to report this to the king as soon as possible, their king would know what to do with these intruders to their realm.

Shoroya did also keep watch for a few hours and as soon as the sun rose they got up and ate a snickers bar each and some beef jerky. Shoroya didn't really want to leave this beautiful place but they had to move on, there was no point in delaying their departure. The skies were cloudy and it was a bit colder than the day before, they repacked everything and walked away from the once grand palace, it felt wrong doing it, as if the very place itself asked them to stay. Shoroya was walking in her own thoughts and Rick was a bit silent too. They headed down towards the river and moved fast through the open forest.

Alatar and the other elves followed the tracks and discovered that they were heading toward the old palace of King Oropher at Emyn Duir, The elves were a bit confused by this, it was as if these creatures had been drawn towards the place and Alatar was shocked to find that they had entered the old reception hall where Oropher had greeted important guests and dignitaries from other realms. He let the others stay outside as he slowly entered the room, it felt like a sacrilege to go in to the once magnificent hall, it had been abandoned and the memories should be allowed to rest in peace. He sniffed the air, felt the scent of two individuals, a scent he know knew was the shape shifters and a more feminine scent with something slightly feral to it.

He took a round, saw few signs of someone actually having been there but then he felt the scent of roses and turned to the statue. It was made in the likeness of Oropher's wife and he knew that his king would go to this place once a year to remember and mourn the loss of his mother. Now a fresh little pile of roses lay there and he felt a weird sensation when seeing this. The female, whatever or whoever she was, couldn't possibly know who this elleth had been and yet she had put flowers down at the statue? As if to honor someone she never had met? Weird indeed but it told him that this female was no heartless cold person, it was a very sensitive person, someone with a great deal of intuition and wisdom.

He returned to the others, thinking fast. "Haldar, Hauraron, follow them but do not let yourself be seen or noticed. The rest of us will return to the king immediately, he needs to know about this."

The two elves just nodded and ran off and he headed in a more northern direction, taking the shortest and quickest way to the new palace.

Shoroya and Rick kept a good pace down along the river, the forest was very peaceful and quiet but Shoroya had started to feel a sense of unease. It was as if the trees were scared of something, as if they were hurting somehow. The forest got darker and they saw more dead trees and Rick lifted his head and sniffed the air. "I am not so sure if I like the smell down here, it feels…wrong!"

She nodded. "I know, and the air is dense, filled with strange voices."

He frowned and stopped. "I think we are being followed again, but this time it is something different than those beasts, I can sense it somehow"

She bit her lip, her eyes a bit distant. "Do we move on or do we stay here and see if whatever it is will reveal itself? "

Rick shrugged. "We move, there is no point staying here for I am rather sure that those or that which is following us are unwilling to be seen, at least for the moment."

Shoroya nodded but she felt the hairs stand up along her neck and she felt tense. But it wasn't the knowledge of being followed that created this feeling, it was a sense of walking towards danger instead. She took her bow and moved her quiver again, prepared for anything. If this area was dangerous somehow they would have to find a way out of it before the next night, neither of them liked the idea of spending the night out in the open without any protection.

Alatar and his men had been running at full speed back to the palace, it took them most of the day even after they found their horses which they had left at a safe spot. Alatar was a bit uncertain as to what he was to say or do, he didn't know what mood the king was in right now and it was all very odd but he felt that a report was needed. He left his horse in the stable and walked up towards the throne room, he just hoped that Thranduil wasn't busy with something important for he knew that the king hated being interrupted whilst doing something.

Luckily for him the king was just sitting on his throne, staring at some ellith who were decorating the hall for some festivity. He saw that Alatar was heading his way and got up, moved down the stairs from his throne with his usual fleeting elegance and Alatar kneeled in front of him. Thranduil seemed a bit puzzled, the captain and his men hadn't been expected back home yet, in fact not for several days. He stopped and stared down at the kneeling captain. "Alatar? Why are you here now?"

The captain got back up, he swallowed and his face was a bit pale. "My liege, we came across something strange whilst out in the woods east of the Emyn Duir, three warg riders following the footprints of two people. We gave chase and suspected that those beasts would have killed the two but it was the other way around."

Thranduil tensed up, he stared at the warrior with narrow piercing eyes. "Elaborate!"

Alatar nodded. "The orc's and one of the wargs had been shot with arrows, but we could not identify the type cause the wounds were so clean and deep and the arrows themselves retrieved. The two other wargs had been mauled by something very large, we suspect it was a skinchanger."

Thranduil frowned and tilted his head. "A Beorning?"

Alatar shook his head. "No my liege, a wolf. "

Thranduil almost gasped, there had been werewolves back in the old days, terrible monsters which had been used by the enemy but also pure shape shifters and of those some had been on the side of good although little were known about them. He was thinking fast. "The other person?"

Alatar bit his lip. "A female of some sort, an archer and a very skilled one too. They went directly to the old ruined palace and stayed there for the night."

Thranduil spun around, his eyes piercing. "Really? Did they touch anything?"

Alatar bowed his head, a little unsure of how he was to put this. "The female had put some roses under the statue of your mother, other from that nothing was touched no, the place wasn't desecrated in any way."

Thranduil looked stunned for a moment. "Roses?"

The warrior nodded swiftly. "Yes, there were some blooming behind the reception hall, the remains of her personal garden. The female had laid some beside the flowers you left there."

Thranduil didn't say anything for a few moments, why would a stranger lay down flowers like that? And roses? His mother had loved those roses, they were her pride and joy. Was this a coincidence or something else?

"So, these creatures, where are they now?"

Alatar looked straight ahead. "I sent two of my best warriors to keep an eye on them, they were heading down towards the river the last time I saw them."

Thranduil got a stern expression on his face. "That area is very heavily infected with spiders and dark forces, it is dangerous. I want to interrogate them, see if they are friends or foes of our realm. "

He spun around again, his long robes flowing gracefully behind him. "Take some fresh horses and go there, find them and bring them here. And go now, before the spiders get to them."

Alatar moaned inwardly but didn't let out a sound and bowed. He was tired but he saw the rationality in it, if those two were heading into that area they were in mortal danger if they weren't dead already.

Shoroya and Rick had walked for most of the day, the skies were dark and made it look like dusk had fallen already but it didn't feel that way. The air was fouler than ever before and they slowed down and tried to come to a conclusion, they would either have to turn back or keep walking and hope that they would find somewhere safe before it got too dark. There were sounds in this forest that made Shoroya rather jumpy and Rick was growling, his hands never far from the machete he had attached to his belt. It was getting increasingly hard to tell what direction they were heading in but the compass did at least give some clues and they did follow a straight line.

Shoroya had her bow ready the whole time and she did feel eyes upon her, the whole time. And they were not friendly, she could sense a sort of hunger in the air, something sinister and ancient and very very evil. Rick had shed most of his clothes again, he didn't feel cold or heat the way ordinary people did and so it didn't harm him and she knew that he was ready to shift at any moment. They had crossed a very narrow slow running stream which seemed almost oily and disgusting when they heard a new sound. Something heavy moving through the trees. Shoroya knocked and arrow and spun around. Behind them she saw something that made her shot immediately and she yelled to warn Rick of the impending danger. Rick turned around too and stared with huge eyes at the creature that now lay there shivering in death spasms. "What the fuck is that thing?"

Shoroya knocked another arrow, she had used an arrow with a very long and thin pointy head, it was perfect for piercing and going deep into whatever it was you were shooting at and it had been efficient. The creature was dead beyond doubt. "The motherfucking mother of all goddamn monsters, any arachnophobic's worst nightmare"

Rick growled and his eyes turned red. "And I can see the rest of the family assemble too, get ready to shoot. "

She found a position. "And you get ready to bite"

He grinned. "Be sure!"

Then he changed!


	3. Meeting the locals

Chapter three: Meeting the locals

Shoroya had once gone to school, it was a very long time ago but she still remembered what they had taught the students about different animals and there was no way a spider could get hat freaking big. First of all, it would be crushed by its own weight since the exoskeleton would be too thin to carry its bulk and second of all it would choke since spiders don't have lungs but breathes through holes in its skin. These spiders had forgotten that there are such a thing as biology lessons, cause they were damn huge.

She didn't want to waste no arrows so she was careful about her aim. She shot three spiders in just thirty seconds and Rick went straight at the herd of monsters snarling. "Be careful love, I bet they are poisonous."

He was moving like a fleeting black shadow, too fast for the spiders to follow and he went for their legs. His powerful jaws crushed the lanky legs and left the spiders unable to move and then she had no problems killing them. She ran around as fast as she could and retrieved her arrows whenever she could, there were spiders everywhere. This place was in dire need of an exterminator and she had taken many jobs in her long life but that was not one of them. She had problems with guilt for even crushing a mosquito. How could a spider grow to such humongous size? She wished they had bought that radiation measurement device back in the sixties when it was all so very popular but then again, it would probably have stopped working by now. She had seen no florescent spiders yet so she could just hope that the cause for their size wasn't radiation. Rick kept running and jumping and the spiders tried to get to him but he was too cunning and he even managed to get two spiders to impale themselves onto protruding branches. It was rather apparent that these creatures were far from smart.

Shoroya had used all her arrows at least once and she was only able to shoot now whence she retrieved one, she had to run and skip and jump and it was getting increasingly hard for the ground was covered with dead spiders and they seemed to try to keep the two contained within this small area. She had to let go of the bow in the end, her arrows spread out over a too great area for her to find them all and she took her machete instead and her hunting knife. She wouldn't be that efficient with these weapons but there was no other choice. She never stood still for even a second, keep moving no matter what happens, that was her motto now. Be a caffeinated squirrel or something like that, something small and very fast. She was glad the machete had been sharpened for it got more than enough to do right there and then.

The spiders were tough though, the exoskeleton rather hard and they were surprisingly fast too, and very vicious. She was considering climbing to get away but the spiders did climb too and she just had to keep fighting. Rick was getting tired, she could see it and a wave of despair rushed through her, she could not let him down, she had to help him but how? She was tiring too, the fighting had gone on for longer than she had thought and her legs were shivering. A spider knocked her over and tried to bite her but she cut its mandibles off with the machete, another tried to sting her but she rolled away and she heard Rick's voice. "Try to get underneath a rock or something."

She couldn't, there was no way she could do that. "No way, I won't let you become some darn arachnid's dinner."

She kept cutting and the spiders kept coming from every direction and she was sure that they were done for when arrows suddenly started to fly among the trees and spiders fell with shrieking sounds. Two tall slender persons appeared almost out of the blue, shooting arrows while they were running and leaping and jumping from branch to branch. Shoroya immediately went into action, retrieving her arrows and she saw that these two had fought spiders before. There was some sort of silent communication happening between them. She could clearly see that and she also saw that they were a bit intimidated by Rick. They stayed as far away from him as possible. The spiders kept coming still but she started firing again and with three good archers they managed to keep the beasts at bay.

Shoroya just wondered for how long that would be when yet another group of people arrived and started killing spiders and the battle turned in that moment. The spiders started to flee and she stared at the newcomers and saw that they all wore the same clothes more or less. Some very old fashioned looking uniforms dyed in green and brown colors that made them blend into the very forest itself. They all had long hair in thick braids and most of them had brown or dark blonde hair but a couple were light blond and one had almost black hair. And they all had pointy ears, right, elves. When the spiders were gone she very carefully laid her bow down and placed her machete next to it, the spiders were perhaps terrifying but these creatures were just as lethal and far more intelligent.

Rick was shivering when he changed back and he stood there naked for a few moments before he found his pants and got them back on. He was just as tall as the elves but more roughly hewn, still he was just as handsome as they were in her mind at least, he was just a bit more barbaric perhaps. The elves had gathered around them and stared at them, a dark haired one with something that had to be officer tags on his uniform came forth and he looked nervous but self-assured too. He said something that sounded like utter gibberish, pretty gibberish but she didn't understand a single syllable. Then he tried some different language and she just shook her head. Rick stood there with his arms across his chest and the elves did throw some very nervous glances at him.

She held her hands out, palms up. "Look you guys, I don't understand any of that."

The officer tilted his head, darn he was pretty, or more precisely, beautiful. They were all freakingly perfect and she felt a little bit intimidated by that fact. "You speak Westron?"

Shoroya did understand him, the accent sounded a bit like old English and she nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes we do."

The elf let out a sigh of relief, he bowed his head slightly. "I am Alatar, officer in his royal highness guard. Who are you and what are you doing here in our realm?"

Shoroya tried to appear as polite as possible, she bowed too and tried to smile. "I am Shoroya, he is my husband Rick, we are frankly speaking not sure of where we are, we are very lost you might say."

The elf frowned, he stared at Rick with reluctant respect. "You are a skin changers mate?!"

She nodded and he swallowed. "From whence do you come, your clothes and things are so…strange."

Rick just growled. "Somewhere of which you have never heard. A whole different world."

The elf frowned again and Shoroya sighed. "It is true, we are not from your world at all. That is why we look so different."

Alatar swallowed, he was willing to believe them, the fabrics of their clothes and the things they carried were completely alien and he tried to keep his composure. "You are in the realm of Aran Thranduil of Mirkwood, all who trespass are to be taken to the king for interrogation."

Shoroya took a deep breath, she nodded. Trying to resist would be stupid with that many armed elves surrounding them and Rick just grinned. "We sort of guessed that you would say something like that."

Alatar picked up Shoroya's bow and some other took their knives. "What is this made from? It is so light?"

He tried to pull it and was shocked by how hard it was to draw. Shoroya smiled, she was proud of the bow and hoped that they wouldn't confiscate it for good. "Something called carbon fiber, it is made in my world."

Alatar looked at her arrows, all had been retrieved and he stared at the strange tips that could be screwed onto the arrow shaft. The metal looked as if it hadn't been used at all and each tip was razor sharp. "These are amazing, and we have never thought of making arrow tips that can be screwed onto the shaft."

Shoroya beamed a bit. "Well, it is very handy at times, there are more arrowheads in the quiver though, of different types."

The elf picked up the machete and studied it with narrow eyes. "This blade is rather crude, it almost looks like something orcs would use but it is so light, and so sharp?"

Shoroya looked confused. "Orcs?"

Alatar nodded. "The three riders you killed up at Emyn Duir were orcs."

She gaped. "You know about them? Oh, orcs, right, now I know what they were."

Alatar was confused too. "You don't have orcs where you come from?"

Rick shook his head and pulled the rest of his clothes back on, including his boots. "No such thing there no, only humans."

Alatar tilted his head. "You are not human?"

Rick sighed. "Well there are some exceptions but the humans doesn't know about us. It's for the best for believe me, the humans of our world are hostile to anything not quite like them."

Alatar just nodded, still a bit amazed by it all. He ordered two of the warriors to pick up the backpacks and they did, although a bit reluctantly. Alatar sent the two a stern smile. "Let's move before more spiders show up."

They started walking, Shoroya was tired but she was used to pushing herself and Rick was stronger than anyone could imagine. To him this was rather easy, he recovered from almost anything very fast. The forest was dark and it didn't smell right and Shoroya saw that the elves were very alert the whole time. She had a feeling of disbelief and also of foreboding. The trees were silent, their thoughts slow and sluggish and dark, as if they were sick. She couldn't contain it. "This forest is dying!"

Alatar turned his head around, looked at the female with an expression of shock. He had believed that only elves could sense the disease that was spreading through the forest. "Yes, it is infected."

Shoroya frowned. "Is there nothing anybody can do?"

Alatar shook his head. "No, the source of the infection is an old fortress which is inhabited by terrible creatures and dark magic alike. We are not strong enough to rid ourselves of it."

Rick looked rather menacing, there was a dark flame flickering in his eyes. "That doesn't sound very good?"

Alatar made a grimace. "It isn't, once it used to be a palace, the first the father of our king built in his time on the throne. It was abandoned since it was a bit too close to another realm ruled by someone he didn't trust that much and they moved to the palace you visited last night."

Rick frowned. "It must have been a grand place, why was it abandoned?"

Alatar smiled, his eyes dreamy. "Oh it was, it was wonderful, but the orcs and darkness settled on Amon Lanc and turned it into what it is now, Dol Guldur. A black and terrible place."

Shoroya nodded. "The wooden palace was too close?"

Alatar nodded, his fair face very sad. "Yes, it was, it had to be abandoned. Aran Thranduil moved us north, away from Dol Guldur. We live in a cave now, it is at least safe."

Shoroya made a grimace, a cave? That didn't sound too cozy at all.

Rick had no problems keeping up with the long legged elves, he wasn't even short of breath. "So the orcs are a problem here?"

Alatar sighed and nodded. "Yes, very much so. We are in a constant battle to defend our realm and we all fear that it one day will be too much, that we will lose."

Rick growled. "I understand that, they were a terrible bunch. But they could die."

Alatar sent him a grim smile. "That is the only good thing about them."

Shoroya hissed, she felt a chill run down her spine. "So they have been a problem for a long time?"

The elf nodded. "You probably don't know our history but yes, they have been a problem for ages, almost since the very beginning of our world. It has gotten worse though, because of that place. It is too close to home if you see what I mean?"

The two nodded and Alatar made a gesture towards the forest around them. "It is getting worse, the spiders are spreading too and it isn't that long ago that the king lost his wife because of this malady."

Shoroya felt a lump in her throat. "She got killed by spiders? Orcs?"

Alatar shook his head. "We don't know, she and some of her maids rode out to gather herbs and never returned. Only two horses came back and the animals were so injured they had to be put down. We all went looking for her but the only thing we found was a basket she had woven and a bracelet she had worn."

Shoroya cringed. "God, that is terrible, so nobody knows what happened to her?"

The elf nodded. "No, it is a mystery. The king almost went mad with grief and fear and if it hadn't been for their son he would have faded. "

Rick tried to look as compassionate as he could. "So the king has a son?"

Alatar smiled. "Yes, he is very young though, barely more than a child. He is very affected by the loss of his mother too."

Shoroya could imagine that yes, being very young and losing a parent like that. It had to be terrible and not knowing worse of all..

They had walked for quite a while when they came to a glen where two more elves stood guarding a herd of horses. Shoroya tilted her head, she was used to horses and these were the best she had ever seen, sleek muscular animals with intelligent eyes and a proud stance. They wore simple tack though, a very primitive halter and bit and a sort of pillow with stirrups for a saddle. Alatar looked a bit uncertain for a moment. "You do have horses where you come from?"

Shoroya nodded. "Yes, we are used to riding."

Two horses were presented to them and they managed to mount without too much awkwardness, the horse Rick got snorted and looked a bit nervous but he calmed down when Rick spoke to it with his calm deep voice. Shoroya had gotten a bay mare and she liked the feeling of pent up energy in the animal. They rode off and she was amazed by the speed the animals were able to keep through the forest. The horses were so agile and so fearless, they would jump and skip and turn on a dime and she knew that back home a horse like this would have been almost priceless. What barrel rider or show jumper wouldn't have given an arm and a leg for a horse like this?

The day was at its end and it was getting dark fast but they rode on, the forest didn't look that bad now, but it was still rather dark and the trees were not well. She could sense that. They stopped on a glen and Alatar rode his grey gelding over to them. "I am sorry but from here on you are to be blindfolded but worry not. We will not let any harm befall you, these horses do not throw their riders."

Rick looked very reluctant but he didn't protest and neither did Shoroya, she had already formed a sort of bond with the mare she rode and trusted the animal. Riding blind wasn't something she had done before but she just let go of the reins and let the horse guide itself.

She heard that they left the forest floor and came onto a real path, then after what had to be some hours they were on a road, probably covered with cobble stones. They had to be closer now. She felt that morning wasn't that far away, her inner clock did work well here too. The horses were picking up their pace, they probably knew that the stable wasn't that far away. There was a sound of rushing water and she could hear that the hooves of the horses hit solid rock with a hollow ring to it, a bridge? Then the sound changed, they entered some huge room and she heard the sound of massive doors being shut behind her.

Alatar allowed them to remove the blindfolds and they got off the horses that were taken away to the stables. He nodded. "Wait here, I will inform the king of your arrival. "

He gestured for some other elves to carry their things with them and Shoroya clenched her teeth together and hoped that they would get everything back. Rick just stood there and looked rather stoical, he never let anything shake him out of balance emotionally.

Alatar was informed that the king was in his study at the moment, he quickly set course for the place with the servants in tow. He knocked and heard Thranduil's deep baritone answer, the officer took a deep breath and entered the room. He bowed and the king turned around, he didn't wear his crown since he wasn't in the throne room and it made him look a little bit less intimidating, not much but a little. "Now?"

Alatar kept his eyes to the floor, he swallowed. "We did find them my king, they had been fighting spiders for a while."

The king lifted an eyebrow in an almost shocked expression. "For a while? And they were unharmed?"

Alatar nodded. "Yes my king, they were unharmed. She is an amazing archer and the shape shifter was fighting very well too. "

He held out Shoroya's bow and quiver and the king went over and took the things, he seemed shocked by them. "This bow, it weights so little? And such peculiar arrows."

He picked up one arrow and studied it, noticed the amazing tip and the strange material the quiver was made from. It looked like leather but was cold and hard and yet it wasn't like metal or stone or tree. "Have they spoken?"

Alatar nodded again. "Yes my king, Her name is Shoroya and his is Rick, they are from another world, or so they do at least claim. I do believe them though, they are very different. "

Thranduil looked puzzled, another world? Some had once claimed that the great creator in his wisdom had awakened more than just one world from its slumber in the great void and that they too were inhabited by his children. Maybe that was true. The servants placed some other items on the floor and Thranduil stared at the back packs and the knives and the machete. The latter did interest him in special and he could not quite understand how the blade had been forged, it was so smooth and there was no signs of it being shaped by a smiths hammer.

The knives were gorgeous and very well made and he wondered if these two creatures were people of wealth and influence where they came from. He didn't dare touch the backpacks though, he had no idea of what they could contain. "Bring them here."

The servants ran to deliver the order and before long some warriors came with Rick and Shoroya, they had been searched for weapons and although the warrior who had frisked Shoroya had been very gentle and respectful she didn't like it. They were lead straight into the room and Shoroya almost gaped when she saw the elf who stood there by a huge desk. He was the tallest male she had ever seen and he was gorgeous, beautiful didn't quite fit because he did radiate a sort of silent strength, and he was extremely majestic. She hurried to bow as deeply as she could and Rick did bow to, although not so deep.

Thranduil stared at the two, the male was tall and strong and he had an almost elven kind of beauty to him, but he was a bit more rough than an elf. The female was petite and elegant and rather striking with thick black hair and soft golden brown eyes but there was something about her, something not human. He could smell it, she wasn't human even though she did appear to be one. He decided to see if she would reveal herself or not, he didn't trust any strangers before they had proven themselves trustworthy.

"So, my officer here tells me you are of another world, do you care to explain why you are here in my realm?"

The voice was calm, self-confident. Shoroya knew by sheer instinct that this was one being used to be in complete control of everything around him, to be in absolute power and he would not allow anybody to question him. She kept her eyes to the floor and tried to sound as sincere as she possibly could. "We do not know your majesty, there was a terrible thunderstorm and we suddenly found ourselves in this world. We have no idea of where we are and we are truly sorry if we have caused any offense but it was not our intention at all."

Thranduil stared at her, he sensed no deceit in her words, she was telling the truth and he didn't quite know what to make of it. He pointed at the backpacks. "Do remove the items from those…contraptions."

Rick hid a grin and knelt down, opened his backpack. He took out the sleeping bag and Shoroya did the same with her own backpack. Thranduil was sincerely curious, he had never encountered things like these and he was always eager to learn new things, it could be that they could be beneficial for his realm. "What is that?"

He didn't move closer to them, and Alatar and two other warriors stood there just in case but Shoroya did see the curious glimpse in the king's eyes and she knew already that this world was far less technologically advanced than her own. The palace was fantastic, a marvel and a great feat of engineering and craftsmanship but it was all very medieval looking. She saw fabrics and tapestries of incredible beauty but nothing that could have been made after the industrial revolution. Everything was hand crafted. Shoroya rolled her sleeping bag out. "It is what we call a sleeping bag, we use it when we need to spend the night outdoors."

Thranduil was used to bed rolls, this was not that very different but they were probably very convenient. "How do one enter one of those things, they look like cocoons!"

Shoroya slid the zipper down and that made the elf take a step back and then one forward, in sheer amazement. One servant took the sleeping bag and brought it to him and he stared at the zipper with narrow eyes and then he tried moving it. He let out a small gasp and pulled it up and down several times and there was a glimpse of awe in his eyes. "Such an ingenious invention?"

Shoroya nodded. "It is very handy yes, it is called a zipper and we use it also on clothes."

She could see that the elf already was thinking about the possible uses for this and she realized that this king was intelligent, he wasn't just a very pretty face. Rick almost chuckled and Thranduil stared at him with a cold glance. "What?"

Rick just nodded. "Oh, it is just that these things can be a bit dangerous too, when used in pants that is. Some guys have had some very painful experiences with zippers."

The elf looked confused. "Explain?"

Rick actually blushed. "Oh, well, things can get caught in the zipper, if one is not careful. We use the zipper in the front of the pants?"

Thranduil frowned for a second, then he obviously realized what Rick was talking about and cringed visibly. He just signaled for the servant to remove the sleeping bag. "Go on."

They pulled out their blankets which didn't surprise the elves but they obviously found the fleece interesting and had to feel and knead the fabric between their long dexterous fingers. Rick had the camping equipment, and he pulled the heavy bag out of the backpack and put it on the floor. The elves looked a bit suspicious and he took out the kettle and the metal bowl they used to make food in. The gas burner did confuse them and Rick took the lighter and lit it and the elves backed away with startled gasps. He cut the flame and grinned. "And thus we heat our food."

Thranduil stared at the lighter with wide eyes. "That thing, it makes fire?"

Rick nodded. "Yes, for a while, it uses a flammable liquid or gas as a source and eventually it gets empty but it can be refilled."

He held the zippo out and the elven king took it very hesitantly and stared at it. It was a very nice zippo with an eagle engraved into the metal on one side and a hawk on the other and the elf was obviously amazed by it. He tried to lit it but didn't quite get the hang of it. Rick nodded. "It isn't that easy, be careful or you may burn your fingers."

Thranduil gave him the zippo again, he was obviously in awe of the thing. Rick then showed them the flashlights and they did make every elf there gasp and stare. "Such light, so strong?! What magic enables so strong light to come from such a small source."

The king's voice was a bit hoarse and Shoroya held up the pack of batteries. "This sort of magic, but it is really just chemistry, or alchemy if you understand that word better. These things give power to the lights and when the power is used up the flashlights don't work anymore."

The first aid kit was the next thing they got out of the backpacks and the elves did understand what the things were for, after all, bandages are bandages everywhere. The syringe was something new though and Shoroya had to explain how it was used to get medicine into people. The idea was obviously new to them but she saw that it ignited a flame in the king, this could be very useful indeed. The bottle of aspirin was with the kit and she had to explain that these were pills used to ease pain and that too many of them could be very dangerous. The fishing equipment did cause some interest among the elves, the hooks were so well made and the telescopic fishing rod made them rather excited and they all had a go at pulling it out and pushing it back in again.

Shoroya felt that they reminded her a bit of children, they had a sort of innocence to them she wasn't used to see in adults. The packet of Beef jerky made the warriors curious and then a bit green when they explained what it was but Thranduil did find the concept intriguing, although not very appetizing. The snickers bars they had left did also make the elves curious, they were not so alert now, and Shoroya decided to sacrifice one of the bars. She pulled the paper of it and explained that it was a sort of snack used to give extra energy.

The elves did smell it, and looked very curious. "What is this made from?"

The king tilted his head and Shoroya smiled. "Something called chocolate that is made from some beans from a tree and sugar, which is made from sugar canes, peanuts which are nuts and caramel and some other things too."

She split the bar in two and then she gave Rick one half and took the other half herself. She handed the king one of the other bars and he looked suspicious and watched with narrow eyes as the two ate their pieces. He was very tempted, she could see it. He mimicked her, pulled the paper off the bar and studied the text, the letters were unfamiliar and so was the paper, so shiny and smooth and strange. He sniffed the bar, his nose was very sensitive and it would pick up any trace of poison or anything inedible. But it did in fact smell very good and he didn't want to look as if he was scared in front of the warriors and servants. He did take a small bite and the taste made him gasp. It was among the best things he had ever tasted. He stared at the bar with wide eyes. "This is a delicacy? It must be very costly?"

Shoroya shook her head. "No your majesty, it is rather cheap, they make a lot of it."

She got the remaining three bars and placed them onto the desk "Here, for your son. Children love these things but don't let him eat them all at once, he'll get a sugar rush from it and believe me, kids with a sugar high can be very hard to control"

Thranduil did look very pleased with the gift but he frowned slightly. "Sugar rush?"

Shoroya nodded. "Yes, when you eat something very sweet and get too much energy?"

One of the servants grinned. "Aha, remember the time he got into the pantry and ate all the honey cakes and sweet rolls the cook had made that day, he was almost running on the ceiling for a while."

The king grinned and for a moment he looked very likeable, far less threatening. It had to be a dear memory to him. "Oh yes, I remember Galion, I remember. We thought he never would go to sleep again."

Rick pulled out the whiskey bottle next and Thranduil looked very curious. "Is that some sort of wine?"

Rick shook his head. "No, this is far stronger than wine, it is a very old brand and this fluid is not for the faint of heart."

He opened the cork and the king got the bottle and sniffed it carefully, he threw his head back with a gasp and blinked twice. "Eru! That has to be liquid fire!"

Rick just grinned. "Yes, strong enough to awaken the dead or so they say. I haven't tried doing that but it does make you heat back up again of you are cold, that is for sure."

He put the cork back in the bottle and Shoroya started emptying her back pack. She pulled out the gown she had rescued from their car and the elves just stared at it. It was made from red satin embroidered with tiny crystal beads in green and gold and she had bought it for a wedding. She saw that the servants touched it with awe and so did the king, he stared at the crystals with something strange in his eyes. "This gown is worthy of a queen, are you royalty?"

Shoroya shook her head. "No, but it was a very expensive dress yes."

He looked at the seams and the strange design, tried to imagine her wearing it, it had to be quite a sight to behold. She pulled the red shoes out of the backpack too, they were also covered with crystals and very pretty and one of the servants said something that had to be a sort of curse. "How can anyone walk in shoes like that?!"

Shoroya got her boots off and put the pumps on, then she took a few steps and the elves were gaping. "Doesn't that hurt?!"

It was the servant named Galion who said that, he wore some other clothes than the others and looked important, probably a butler or something like that. "No, not when you are used to it"

She also pulled out her sack of clothes and laid them on the desk and she cringed internally when the butler started pulling out her every garment. The t-shirts were obviously something they did understand, after all, the shape was rather universal but they didn't understand the words written on them. The king picked up one of them, it was in a terrible green color with huge bold letters across the chest. "What does it say?"

Shoroya went beet red, that particular t-shirt was one she had gotten from a friend because that friends mother had gone ballistic when she saw her daughter wearing it, the text did shock most who saw it. It said( You suck! Do you swallow too?) and Shoroya cringed. "Ah, your majesty, that is a very indecent text, believe me, you do not want to know what it says, honestly!"

Thranduil cocked his head. He didn't quite understand this. "Why would anyone wear an indecent text like that, for all to see?"

Adelyn sighed. "To shock others, get a reaction. It is usually the very young who wear things like that, to make a statement and show their independence, or to rebel against their parents."

The king shrugged. "Humans, such weird customs."

Galion pulled a couple of bra's out of the bag and he held them up. "What are these for?"

Shoroya noticed that Rick was a bit red in the face and he was working very hard not to start laughing. Shoroya was blushing very prettily now. "Ah, those are a vital part of a lady's underwear, uh, think of it as a sort of corset? Very small?"

Galion held one of the bra's up and then he understood how it was worn, he blushed too and put it down, very fast. It was a nice piece of tailoring though, with beautiful embroideries and such exquisite fabric. Rick was shivering with withheld laughter by now.

The next thing the butler got out of the bag was one of Shoroya's g string panties and none of the elves understood what that was until she blushing and very embarrassed showed them. The kings eyes got very huge and the servants looked shocked, the warriors did cringe. Galion dropped the thing as if it was a poisonous snake or something. Shoroya almost growled. "It is clean thank you very much!"

Her makeup kit and the box of watercolors did create some amazement too and Rick's clothes were also scrutinized and she saw that they found his boxer shorts intriguing. They probably didn't have anything that comfortable there for the males and Shoroya got a suspicion that the tailors would get some very new ideas from now on. Her jewelry box was the next thing that was examined and the first thing Galion pulled out of it was a necklace she had gotten from her grandmother. It was made from small hematite beads and white opal's and it was simple but elegant and the king immediately went over staring at the box.

"Where did you get such gems from?"

Shoroya sighed, he was obviously very fond of bling, she saw several rings on his fingers and he wore a huge broche on his tunic, if she hadn't known that he had a wife and a son she would have believed that the guy was very gay indeed. She sighed. "The necklace I got from my grandmother but the gems are from a continent known as Australia."

He touched the stones reverently. "They are exquisite, and you are not of royal lineage? Your people must be wealthy indeed."

She just shrugged. "Well, we are doing alright I guess."

They also looked at her rings and the other necklaces and bracelets she had and they took particular interest in a bracelet made from silver and Kauri shells, the shells were shaped like leaping dolphins encased in silver and the elves were obviously in awe of both the craftsmanship and the very design. The dolphins had to mean something special to them.

The outdoor clothes were examined carefully, both their jackets, pants and sweaters and the raincoats. The knitted sweater she had brought was making the servants very excited and Galion explained to them that they had seen humans wearing something rather similar but not so nice. The boots had to be explained too and the elves had let their guard down by now. They were so fascinated by everything they behaved like kids on Christmas eve.

Shoroya pulled out the small plastic bag containing their toothbrushes, brushes and combs and her pack of tampons and they did understand the toothbrushes and brushes well since they had something rather similar there but the tampons on the other hand caused some problems. Galion stared at the small white cone shaped thing wrapped in shiny wrapping and he frowned. "What in the name of Eru is this for?"

Shoroya blushed like a beet, she had problems staying serious. "Oh, that is….that is something we females use…for that time of the month?"

The elves just stared with expressions that were rather peculiar, she almost felt a touch of panic. "Don't female elves bleed once a month?"

Many elves did blush violently and the king was a bit pale, he was biting his lip. Galion managed to look at least a bit in control of himself. "No, but we do know that mortals do yes, but how can these things be used for….ah…such conditions? Do you roll them out?"

Shoroya was feeling how her face felt stiff like a board and she was sure she looked like a field of tomatoes. Rick was holding his hand in front of his face, trembling all over. "No, you see, ah, we put them up into…you know…uh"

There were some very peculiar expressions to witness there, Shoroya wished she had had a camera for gee, that much gaping would have won an award or broken the internet if the images were posted. Rick couldn't contain himself, he broke down roaring with laughter and some of the elves started chuckling too. Shoroya got over, grasped the pack and shoved it back into the backpack, blushing like mad.

Thranduil realized that this was a rather touchy subject and he found it a bit intriguing that the female was so bold and yet so shy. These people had a very different view upon the world than his own, that was very apparent.

Galion pulled the books out, they were at the bottom of her pack and he gasped and stared at the image on front of the first one. It was a huge photo of Mt Rainier and she could see that the concept of photography was something entirely new. Thranduil stared at the image with awe. "What sort of book is this? Is this some sacred site? The home of your gods?"

Shoroya shook her head. "No, it is a book with pictures from places of exceptional beauty, places that are protected by law so that nobody can destroy them or use them for farming or fell the trees or exploit the land."

Thranduil swallowed. "You do that? Protect places? That is…very nice."

She nodded. "It is needed, there are kids who never have been outside of the cities they are born in and people who knows little more than nothing about nature. Our world is overrun by humans unfortunately."

The king turned the book around. "How are these images made? They are not paintings?"

Rick had calmed down from the tampon incident and he had wiped some tears away from his face. "You might say that it is made from a method that is basically trapping light and using it to paint with, you sort of capture the moment within the picture. "

Thranduil touched the book very carefully, as if he was afraid that it would bite him. "Painting with light?! Not even Feanör tried that!"

He opened the book gently, the elves did apparently have great respect for written knowledge and he found the shiny pages amazing and the way the book was made was also confusing to him. But the pictures, Eru the pictures. The elves gathered all around them and stared as the king slowly went from one page to the next. The awe stricken expressions and the small gasps and shouts told her that they found the images stunning. "I can explain what you are seeing later."

Thranduil nodded slowly, he stared down at an image of a place covered with ice and in front was a huge white bear with a bloody seal carcass. That world had to be very diverse indeed.

The next book was the one with pictures of horses and dogs and she saw that the king suddenly took a new and keen interest. He was obviously fond of horses and the first picture was of a snow white Arabian stallion trotting over the desert sand, it looked as if the proud animal was flying and its long silky mane and tail was flowing in the wind behind it. It stared at the camera with a haughty but benign expression and wore a traditional halter made from red silk with a lot of embellishment. The king lifted his gaze and stared at Shoroya, there was something akin to hunger in his eyes. "Such horses, are they common in your world?"

She had to shake her head. "No, they are very fiery and costly, they are known as the breed for kings though. Great warlords rode to battle on them in the olden days."

He was still enthralled by the picture. "It is beautiful, oh what enemy would stand against you if you had steeds like that?"

Shoroya made a grimace. "Not many here I think. But it is only one of many excellent breeds from my world."

He opened the book on a randomly chosen page and it showed a picture of a shire horse in full harness with a grown man standing next to it. "Eru's voice, is that possible? That is a man and not a hobbit?!"

She nodded. "Yes, that horse is really so large, it would have been taller than you are your majesty. Bred to pull heavy carts but originally they were war horses, they carried men in heavy armor and were armored themselves, they had to be huge and strong and calm to do that."

It was obvious that the king imagined a cavalry charge like that for he shuddered and his eyes were glazed for a moment. He moved the book aside and looked at the few magazines she had brought. "What are these?"

She sighed "That are magazines, they are a bit like books but not made to last that long, they are usually made for people with special interests."

She picked one up. "This one is made for people who like to fish, and this one is for people who like to keep an eye on how the fashions in clothing changes. "

The king opened the last one on a page and frowned. "What in the name of the Valar is that woman wearing? Fishnets?!"

Shoroya did giggle. "Yes, we have something that is called designers who create new styles and that designer is a bit…far out"

The elves stared at the picture. "Who would wear that? And only that? And that woman looks like a young boy"

Shoroya heard the shock in the kings voice and she shrugged. "Well, the people they use to show their creations to potential buyers are always like that, tall and skinny."

He just shook his head in a display of disbelief and shock and took a look at the cooking magazine, that didn't shock him that much but it was apparent that the pictures did create some curiosity. "What is that?"

Rick got over and grinned. "That is a very popular dish called a pizza. It is basically a thin piece of dough with meat, vegetables and cheese on it and it is baked in an oven like a bread. "

Galion got eager, he leaned forth and stared at the picture. "Well, it doesn't look that appetizing though, it looks more like…I don't know. An accident?"

Shoroya did giggle and Rick grinned. "Well, you are right about that, but it is very good. I can teach your cook how it is made? You may not have all the ingredients though."

The king had found another page with a huge picture of a bull of the breed Belgian blue, he just blinked and stared at the grotesque animal. "Is that a real animal?!"

Shoroya nodded her head. "Unfortunately yes, they are bred to look like that, the cows cannot give birth so the calf's has to be cut out of them and the meat is practically tasteless but they grow fast and that creates profit. Money is what makes our world go around."

Galion put up a rather nasty grimace. "Then I am glad I am not from that world, poor animal."

Thranduil got a grip on himself, he tried to appear in control again. "I have come to the conclusion that you are no threat to us at the moment so you will be allowed to stay here if you so wish."

Rick bowed his head. "We are very grateful your highness."

Thranduil tilted his head and the sharpness was back in his gaze. "I would like to know what your lovely mate is though, for I can smell she isn't human. Is she a skin changer like you?!"

Shoroya swallowed and made a grimace. "You are right your highness, I am a skin changer, although of an entirely different sort."

Thranduil sent her a swift grin, he had changed within the blink of an eye from an enthusiastic almost boylike person to a stern and powerful leader. "Do you care to explain my lady?"

Shoroya sighed and shrugged. "Alright, but it is a somewhat disturbing story."

Thranduil sent her a hint of a grin. "I am used to disturbing stories."

She nodded. "I kind of guessed that yes. Alright, a long time ago there was this very primitive tribe alright? And they worshiped black panthers. They would sacrifice young maidens to the panthers and I guess there was some sort of magic involved for as the centuries passed the panthers and the humans sort of mixed and the result was a new tribe of skin changers."

The elf stared. "That should not have been possible?"

She made a grimace. "Of course not, but it happened still. And the tribe was very special, Rick here can change whenever he wants to, I cannot. The descendants of that tribe are few and we would be hated for several reasons if the humans knew of us. It is actually quite disgusting."

Thranduil frowned and sat down, his long hands played with a wine glass and Galion filled it with what had to be very dark red wine. "Disgusting?"

She nodded. "Yes, inbreeding. You see, if one of us have sex with someone not of our own race we turn to a panther and kill that person, then we take human form again. It is not something we can control. We have to take a human life before we can become a human again, it is just the way it is."

Thranduil did look shocked. "But your mate isn't of your people is he? Then how can you…hmm, live together?"

Rick sighed. "It is not easy but it can be done, back home people would probably call us serial killers, murderers. We have rules to live by and we follow them. When Shoroya needs to change to her panther form not to get ill we localize some scumbag and she kills him after we have…had some fun. It is the only way we can stay sane I guess."

The elves stared at her with a bit of worry and she rolled her eyes. "Listen you guys, we never kill anyone who doesn't deserve it okay? Yes it is murder but it is the price we pay for our marriage and our lives. "

Thranduil's eyes were a bit nervous yet. "So, who do you kill then, you mentioned scumbags?"

Rick shrugged. "Bad people, the last we took care off was a pedophile, a real asshole."

Thranduil cocked his head. "I am not familiar with that term?"

Shoroya sighed. "I guess not, it describes people who are sexually attracted to children and often but not always molest or even kill kids after having…had their way with them to put it nicely."

The king looked a bit green for a moment. "Are there really people like that were you are from?"

Rick sighed and nodded slowly. "Yes, the bastard we killed less than three days ago had raped a twelve year old girl and molested a ten year old boy too, both were completely traumatized afterwards."

She saw that the elf had problems even understanding this, his eyes told her of horror and disbelief and also a hint of fear. He had a young son and she had seen that kind of reaction before, in parents afraid that something would happen to their children.

"Then you are doing a good thing, removing such…filth… is not murder, is it a needed thing."

She could see that the king had understood something there and then and that it had shocked him to the core. Galion poured yet another glass of wine and he drank it, in one draught. "Your majesty, I can see that you are upset. We could perhaps offer some advice?"

Ricks voice was soft and filled with understanding and Thranduil made a gesture, the warriors left the room and so did most of the servants. He felt as though he could trust these people now, revealing such secrets wasn't something you did easily, he felt that there was a reason why they had been brought to this place. He could just hope that the truth would be revealed to him some day.

"Last summer a merchant came to us, from Dale, he was trading in spices and other things we cannot make here. He has been here before but he had never met…my son before."

The king stared straight ahead, caught by a memory which now had gotten a whole new meaning. "I did notice that the man tried to get close to my son rather often during his stay but I… I didn't expect that…"

There was something rather horrified in his gaze. "He told me he had lost a child some years ago, a boy with golden hair like my son's. I thought it was grief. They were never alone together and my son claimed that the man made him feel rather uncomfortable but I just believed that his behavior was dictated by sorrow. "

Rick sighed and made a nasty grimace. "It could be that you are right, but I am sorry to say that it is rather unrealistic."

Thranduil shook his head. "I have always known that humans find my people attractive, heck, I have had edain making a move on me more than once but I never thought that they would do such things to a child!"

Shoroya felt as though she was ruining the innocence of someone. "Now you know. I am sorry. How old is your son?"

Thranduil smiled gently, it was apparent that he loved his child dearly, she saw it in his eyes. "He is twenty, to you that is the equivalent of an eight year old."

Galion put the wine bottle away even though the king did send him a rather annoyed glance. "But you must be both hungry and tired, I will have the servants prepare a room for you, and perhaps a bath?"

Shoroya grinned. "That would be heavenly thank you."

A servant left the room in a hurry and the king sighed, he looked tired and they remembered that he was grieving his wife. There was an awkward silence for a while and he stared at the now empty glass of wine as if he was trying to refill it by his will alone.

"Your highness. Alatar told us of your loss, we are very sorry to hear about your wife, our condolences. Is it long ago that…?"

Thranduil closed his eyes for a moment, the expression on his face one of utter misery and agony. "Some months, just a moment for us, the blink of an eye and yet…yet an eternity."

Rick sighed. "Losing someone is terrible, not knowing what has happened is even worse."

Thranduil stared at him, his eyes glazed with grief and he looked so young and strong and yet there were eons of time in that iceblue gaze. "You have lost someone too. "

It was not a question, it was a statement and Rick nodded. "I have, a brother. He disappeared in the mountains and we suspect that an avalanche killed him but he was never found and we do not know what happened, and I guess we never will."

The elf nodded slowly. "We should have had eternity together, and I still feel her damn it, it is as if she still is here somewhere, out of my reach. I can feel it. If she had entered the halls I would have known."

He shook his head and Shoroya could almost sense an invisible presence in the room, as if someone was there and tried to make themselves noticed without being able to. "I am sorry to hear that, I hope that you do find some closure my lord."

Thranduil just shrugged and sat there, hunched forward and with dark shadows covering his face. Shoroya felt something akin to deep pity, he was a king, probably almighty in his realm but he could not bring back the one he loved, it was tragic in a heart wrenching way.

The servant returned and the grief stricken king just gestured, they followed the servant out of the rooms and left their things there. They would probably be brought to the room rather soon. Rick stared at her and she stared back. "Poor bastard, if I lost you I would go insane for sure, I cannot imagine how he must feel."

Shoroya nodded. "Neither can I love, neither can I"


	4. A fathers nightmare

Chapter four: A father's nightmare.

The room they had gotten was rather large, and very nice. Rick whistled and looked around with an expression of awe in his eyes. The forest theme was obvious everywhere, the walls carved into the likeness of grand trees with branches that covered the ceiling, you could see every leaf and every detail of the bark. The furniture was carved from wood too, and smelled of old lacquer and forest and the floor was covered with thick rugs in many colors. There was a small bath with a wooden tub that had been filled and towels were laid out together with soap and some dressing robes. The bedroom was rather dark with a hearth and some candles as the only source of light. The bed huge with a wooden frame and forest scenes carved into the headboard, the matrass looked as if it was stuffed with straw, dried moss and feathers and everything was both clean and smelled very good.

Shoroya sighed and sat down, she felt tired and her head was spinning. Rick had already started to pull his clothes off, the water was hot and she took a deep breath and got back up again. They would have to make the most of it while they could. She undressed too and got into the rather large tub, the water was very hot and some sort of floral oil had to have been added for it smelled of lavender and rosemary. Rick let out a small yelp when he sat down. "Darn, that is hot!"

Shoroya nodded. "Yes, but we do need it, hand me the soap please."

He obliged and she started scrubbing herself vigorously, Rick grinned, her expression of slight disgust was rather enjoyable. "Don't you dare laugh, I smell like a rancid old garbage dump."

He shook his head. "Well, so do I, spider blood is not exactly perfume. It is rather disgusting."

Shoroya dunked her head and started washing her long dark hair and she found that the shampoo they had there was exquisite. It made her hair so soft and silky and she just relaxed and allowed herself to feel pampered for a while. Rick got out of the water and dried off in front of the hearth, he stretched and yawned and she had to admire the sight. He was really a perfect physical specimen and she had seen that a few of the elves had stared at him in that specific way that told her they probably favored males and that they found him attractive in spite of being a shape shifter.

She got out when the water got cold and sat down too, she felt drowsy but also alert, she had no idea of why. She had felt like that since they arrived at the palace and she couldn't quite shake the feeling of having forgotten something, that something had passed her by somehow. Rick stared at the flames. "So, now we are in some underground palace, in the realm of an elven king of all things. Is it just coincidental or do you feel as I do? That there are some greater forces at work here?"

Shoroya tilted her head, sighed. "There is something behind it, I am rather sure of it. We can just wait and see what the future brings."

Rick got out of the couch and yawned again. "The imminent future does hold some hours of sleep, at least I hope so."

Shoroya nodded and they got in bed, it was soft but not too soft and the covers warm and cozy and she went out like a candle in the wind and didn't even dream anything.

She was awakened by Rick who shook her impatiently. "Wake up, rise and shine. Some servant has left us clothes and there are food being served in the hall."

Shoroya felt her stomach growl, she was getting hungry now and she got out of bed and stared at the clothes that had been laid out. They had apparently been able to understand that she wasn't the one to wear dresses for she had gotten a pair of leggings and a very long tunic with a split in the sides plus a belt and a sort of undershirt. She liked the colors though, deep dark blue with silver linings and she got the garments on and braided her hair quickly. Rick had gotten some clothes that looked rather similar to her own but they were bigger and in a deep green color. Probably some warriors outfit of some kind.

They got their boots on and left the room, a servant stood there to show them the way and he stared at them with wide eyes and a peculiar expression. Shoroya sensed that he was both intrigued and frightened by them both. The palace was huge, Shoroya knew she would get lost if she was to wander around on her own, and it was wonderful. Waterfalls fell through the rock here and there, and ended up in pools or riverbeds and there were bridges and stairways and corridors everywhere. And elves, she felt a bit intimidated by the sight of so many picture perfect faces and amazing bodies. Every darn female they met looked like some supermodel and she felt like a ragdoll compared with them.

Rick on the other hand did look a bit like the elves, and he did get some long glances from some of the females, Shoroya felt like baring her teeth and snarling at them. A sort of keep off, he's mine type of reaction. The servant did lead them to a rather huge hall with tables and chairs and it looked very nice although a bit chaotic at the moment. There was obviously something going on for there were warriors everywhere wearing the same uniform and they were armed. Everybody was talking and the sound level was earsplitting. Some tall elf with two long dark braids down his back tried desperately to calm everybody down and Shoroya saw that the king stood at the end of the room, next to him was a young elf with pale golden hair and blue eyes and it was rather obvious that this was the king's son. She saw that Thranduil held a hand on the youth's still narrow shoulders and the prince stared at the warriors with a sort of intense longing. He said something and the king shook his head, his eyes rather soft but his expression stern. Rick sat down and nodded. "I bet the young one wants to join the warriors but his father won't let him. "

Shoroya nodded. "Looks like it yes. "

Finally the dark haired one managed to get some peace and he shouted something with a surprisingly strong and rough voice and the warriors started leaving the hall, leaving used plates and bowls and a few very angry looking servant maids. Thranduil saw them and he took his son by his shoulder and lead him over to where the two were sitting. He stared at them with wide eyes and there was something in the gaze that told Shoroya that he probably hadn't encountered that many humans before. And absolutely not shape shifters. There was a silent plea in the kings blue eyes. "Shoroya, Rick, this is my son Legolas. He wanted to meet you, I hope that you may tell him something about your world? He has looked at the books, and found them fascinating."

Shoroya understood the king as if by instinct, he wanted them to create a distraction, to give his mourning child something else to think about than his lost wife. She smiled as gently as she could and moved aside, let him get room next to her. "Of course your majesty, it will be a pleasure."

The young elf stared at Rick with wide eyes and Rick grinned. "Worry not young one, I do not bite."

Legolas sat down, a bit hesitantly and the king left, he looked as if he was in a hurry. Shoroya saw that the prince had to be very young indeed, there was a softness in his eyes, a sort of childlike innocence people usually lose rather fast. "I am very pleased to meet you my prince, so, what do you want us to tell you about first?"

Legolas bit his lower lip, his eyes flickering a bit and she did see that the young elf looked thin and he had dark shadows underneath his eyes. He probably lacked both sleep and real rest and a real appetite too. "The forests? Do you have giant spiders where you come from too?"

Shoroya sat down and started to tell the young elf of her world and after a while he sort of thawed and showed real interest. He told them that the warriors were going to hunt down some orc packs someone had spotted and that he very much would have liked to join them, just as Shoroya and Rick had guessed. They also understood that the prince was a bit overprotected, perhaps not so strange, and he was maybe even a bit immature for his age. He was thirty nine and by the looks of him that had to be the equivalent of a human in his mid-teens. Rick entertained him with stories of places he had been and Shoroya with tales of different cultures and the elf sat there with huge eyes and was listening the whole time. She sort of suspected that he was a bit bored, that he wanted something challenging to happen and that he wanted to prove himself just as every young person does. It was really sad that the situation was as it was there. He told them of the threat of Dol Guldur, of the shadow creeping north from the old fortress and then he started telling them of the history of this world.

Rick and Shoroya did listen and saw that it actually did a world of good for the young elf to have someone who actually cared about what he said. He did speak with authority and Shoroya saw the same power in him as in his father, it just wasn't developed yet. He got very enthusiastic and his face almost glowed when he told of great battles and mighty warriors of old and his family history.

Rick did see where it was heading and before the young elf could start thinking about his missing mother he got up and grinned. "I think I have an idea, I bet you saw the magazine with the food right? How about this, you show us the kitchens and we try to make something from our world? "

Legolas sent the tall man a shy grin. "Something like the strange brown things ada gave me? I tasted one of them, it was wonderful!"

Shoroya smiled. "I do not know what you have here but we'll see what we can come up with right?"

The elf was on his feet and he looked eager once more. "Yes, that would be fun."

Before long they were in the kitchens and she discovered that they did have a lot of the ingredients she was used to using in her cooking. She started making some simple cookies her own mother had taught her how to bake and suddenly she was surrounded by the cooks, eager and curious and more than ready to learn some new skills. Rick sat down on a chair and just looked very pleased and relaxed and Legolas was asking questions all the time. Rick was trying to explain what a hamburger was when the cakes finally were finished. The result was rather good, and the cooks immediately wanted the recipe. Shoroya had to sit there and dictate a few of her favorite recipes while an elf wrote them down upon a piece of parchment. Legolas was munching away at the cookies with glee and the cook took Shoroya aside and whispered with teary eyes that it was the first thing the dear lad had shown any appetite for in a long time.

Shoroya then knew her mission, she asked if they had eggs and sugar and so they had but sugar was expensive and they didn't have lots of it but Shoroya knew the chief cook was on her team now, she started making meringue and added some berry juice and shaped it into animals and figures before it was baked. It tasted sweet and good and the elves were suddenly in a very good mood. There had to be something in their physiology that made them very susceptible for sugar.

Legolas did eat some of it and he also drank some cups of milk and the cook was giving Shoroya thumbs up behind his back. A servant had left the room and he carried a few cookies and some of the meringue and he was heading to the kings office.

He entered and placed the small bowl with baked goods on the desk and the king lifted an eyebrow in a grimace. "What is this?"

The servant bowed. "Some cookies the weird adeneth has baked, they are very tasty. The prince has been eating many already, and he drank two cups of milk."

Thranduil gasped and blinked a few times, Legolas had lost all appetite after his mother disappeared and hearing that he had eaten something without being threatened into it was wonderful. "Then for goodness sake, let her make whatever she likes as long as he eats it!"

They spent the entire first half of the day in the kitchens and Legolas did actually enjoy himself, he had never met people like these two and he liked the way they treated him, with respect yes, but more so as if he was an adult, as if his words and opinions were just as valuable as everybody else's. Shoroya saw the sadness in his eyes though and sat down next to him, patted his hand. "You do miss her right?"

He nodded. "Yes, all the time. We do not know what happened and it is so awful. "

Shoroya nodded. "I know it must be terrible, but I must say that you are most brave!"

He stared down, blinked. "You think so?"

Shoroya nodded and Rick came and sat down too. "Yes, and we are not lying!"

He blushed ever so slightly. "Thank you"

Shoroya sent him her most compassionate smile. "You are welcome."

The young elf got a strange expression upon his face. "Can you keep a secret?"

Shoroya nodded and frowned. "Of course? What secret is that?"

Legolas bit his lower lip and leaned towards her. "I haven't told anyone because I am afraid that they will think I am mad, but I hear her at night! It is not a dream, or, I wake up from dreams and then I hear her, and it is so real."

Shoroya remembered the feeling she had had and for a second the hairs on the back of her neck stood up again. "So, what is it that you hear?"

Legolas swallowed and she saw tears in his eyes. "Her voice, it is so distant and faint but she is begging me to find her, telling me she still is out there, somewhere, alone and scared. But I do not know where!"

Rick sighed. "Are you sure the voice is real and not just your own grief talking?"

Legolas closed his eyes and his hands were shivering. "I am not sure, that is the bad thing. "

Shoroya didn't really know how to reply to that comment, Rick smiled but the smile was a bit sad. "We do not know that much about your race I am afraid, and to be honest I have never believed in ghosts, but nothing is impossible."

Legolas just sighed. "Guess you are right about that. I just wish I knew for sure."

Shoroya wished that she could have given the kid a real hug but that would have been inappropriate. Rick smiled gently. "So, are there any interesting places here in this palace?"

Legolas nodded, suddenly enthusiastic again. "Oh yes there are, lots of them."

Rick got up. "Then let's go, I am curious!"

Legolas got up too and they got the tour of the palace and Shoroya was soon more than impressed, Legolas told her that they had used almost an entire century carving out the place from a network of natural caves and it was impossible to see from the outside and very well protected. He hadn't been born yet then but he had heard the stories of huge caves filled with bats and their droppings and the awful job of getting rid of it all.

Rick then told of the great caves back home and of fairytales and stories of old and the elf listened in wide eyed wonderment. He really was pretty much like a child in some ways and yet not, Shoroya wondered of how this race matured. They went to the stables and Rick was impressed by the long row of neat stalls and the well groomed and lovely horses. Most were white or brown but there were a few black ones too and at the far end of the stable they spotted a huge animal that wasn't a horse at all. Shoroya saw that it in fact was a giant elk of some sort and Rick whistled and blinked. "Those were extinct back home ten thousand years ago."

Legolas looked puzzled. "You have had such elks where you come from?"

Rick nodded. "Yes, but they are long gone. Alongside lots of other creatures I am sorry to say."

Legolas tilted his head. "Such as?"

Rick shrugged. "Giant sloths, sabre toothed tigers, cave lions and mammoths. And many other animals too."

Legolas sat down on a bale of hay and they joined him. "Your world must be huge?"

Rick started telling and Shoroya drew a sort of world map in the dust on the floor. It was hard for the young prince to understand the scale but he did understand that it was a large world indeed.

They then went to see the gardens and the ballroom and the public baths and when they had taken the entire tour they were tired and Rick got them back to the kitchens where he explained how a good hamburger is made. They had bread so they used slices of that instead of real hamburger breads but the result was nice indeed and Shoroya saw that the young prince was stuffing himself. The chef was writing down the ingredients and method with glee and Shoroya feared that they would start the first fast food craze in this world. But she did seriously doubt that there ever had been such a thing as an obese elf, it was probably impossible.

Rick did describe how sausages were made and that made some of the servants present cringe and caused a few rather green faces. The chef and cooks on the other hand got very inspired and started discussing whether smoked meat and walnuts could be used for such food and Shoroya felt that they had started a minor revolution there. They would all become the victims of the kitchen staffs new creativity, or rather, guinea pigs.

A servant came bringing the message that there would be a feast the day after, they were celebrating something Shoroya didn't catch the name of but it had to be rather important. Rick frowned, they had met many elves already but if the whole palace was to be filled with them then he would feel a bit trapped. He had never liked crowds and neither had Shoroya. Legolas saw their expressions and laughed. "Worry not, it will be fun. Everybody will be polite and respect that you don't like getting too much attention."

Shoroya sighed. "Well, at least I get a chance to use that darn dress."

Rick just rolled his eyes and didn't look as though the prince's words had calmed him at all. Shoroya was getting a bit tired and she felt stuffed after having tasted a lot of very eager attempts at making some of the pastries she had suggested for the cooks. Not all the results were all that appetizing but one of the cooks did proclaim with a loud and joyous shout that he had discovered a new glue!

Rick and Shoroya returned to the room to rest. There would be some entertainment later that evening, as it usually was but they were not so sure that they would participate in the merry making. Rick hugged Shoroya when they were alone in the rooms, he sniffed her hair and grinned widely. "I have never seen anybody so eager to learn something new as those elves."

Shoroya nodded and shivered slightly, he was kissing the back of her neck and she knew that dark flame in his eyes so very well. "Yes, I guess that living forever can do that to you, bet it does get a bit boring after a while. So new things are probably greatly valued."

He turned her around and kissed her, his hands sliding over her skin and there was a silent question in his eyes. She sighed inwardly, she was a bit tired and wasn't really in the mood but she did want to please him and they were after all alone and had a comfortable cozy room all to themselves. She grinned and started opening his pants, he backed until he reached the bed and sat down, leaning back and she knew he needed this now, to release stress and uncertainty. They could not have intercourse but she was rather good at satisfying him in other ways and before long he was gasping and shivering. Shoroya knew that he would return the favor as soon as he had recovered, he always did and she was indeed a very fortunate woman to have someone like him.

They fell asleep afterwards, both sweaty and sated and grinning. Shoroya did rarely dream, it was something rather typical for her kin and when she did dream she usually had short and very confusing dreams. This night however she had a real dream, or perhaps a vision. She was out in the woods again, walking through an area with huge trees covered with cobwebs and they were dead, black rotten branches covered the ground and there were a silent whisper in the air, a lament of lives lost and joy that had been banished. It stank, of death and decay and behind it all was another smell far worse, it was the scent of pure evil. Shoroya moaned in her sleep but she didn't wake up. She saw the forest open up in front of her and she saw a hole in the ground, it was not natural, sometime a long time ago someone had been digging there, it had to be an old mine or something like that. She saw the remains of rotten wooden support beams and what had to be the remains of wheel barrels lay scattered around the opening. The stench came from that opening and she didn't see anything but she felt something moving inside of that deep darkness. Something massive and terrible and it was so very cynical and scheming. There was an intelligence down there, cunning and wicked and very patient and it had plans, she just knew it. Whatever it was, it was working on a plan.

She woke up with a start, it was almost completely dark in the room and for a second she was sure she heard someone whispering her name with a very sore voice but it had to be her imagination talking to her. She saw that Rick slept like a log and she didn't want to wake him up, he needed his sleep and so she put on some clothes and managed to find her way down to the public baths. She was glad to see that she was alone there and took a rather quick bath before she got some clean clothes on. She was on her way back to the rooms when she suddenly met the king and his son, they were walking with two elves who had to be counsellors or something like that and Legolas looked bored.

Thranduil was talking in a very calm and almost hypnotic manner and Shoroya didn't doubt that he probably could keep others completely mesmerized for hours. The young prince on the other hand was almost rolling his eyes and Shoroya did bow respectfully before them. Thranduil stared at her with a genuine smile and she saw gratitude in his eyes. She didn't know why she said it but it just dropped out of her. "My lords, have there ever been anyone mining for gold or anything within the forest?"

The king tilted his head, his eyes showed some curiosity. "Why do you ask such a peculiar question my lady?"

She blushed. "Ah, I just had a strange dream, of a sort of mine in the forest, and the trees were completely dead around it. It was a terrible place, it reeked of evil."

Thranduil looked fascinated and Legolas raised an eyebrow and there was a glimpse of curiosity in his eyes. "Ada, has there ever been anyone mining here?"

Thranduil turned to the two elves and said something that sounded like a question, one of the two shrugged and looked clueless but the other one looked as if he suddenly had seen the light and spoke rather rapidly and he was beaming with pride. The king nodded. "There has been mines here indeed, some dwarves did dig here early in the second age, before my father settled here and the great greenwood became a kingdom of its own."

Shoroya frowned. "Really? It did indeed look very old though. What were they digging after?"

Thranduil turned to the counsellor again and the ellon spoke yet again, very enthusiastically. "Apparently they sought some sort of jewels someone with magical skills had foreseen would be found there. But they found nothing at all, it is believed that they thought they could find something to rival the silmarils in beauty and power."

Shoroya had heard that word being mentioned, Legolas had just said a few words about the fëanorians and the things they had done and she looked a bit confused. Thranduil smiled. "The silmarils were three jewels forged by Fëanor, he was the most skilled of all the elven artisans and very talented, but the silmarils were his masterpiece. Because of them much evil was unleashed and the world became a very changed place indeed."

Shoroya had an uneasy feeling in the bottom of her guts, why she could not explain. "But if they wanted something to match those jewels they would have to be just as clever as their creator was? Are the dwarves so smart?"

Thranduil smirked. "Oh, they are skilled indeed but their talents are different than those of the noldor smiths. They are masters at forging and shaping metals but they are also impatient and their temper is infamous. They would never managed to create something as powerful as the silmarils."

Shoroya tilted her head. "So they were digging to see if they could find something of equal value, made by nature itself?"

Thranduil made a grimace. "Yes, they always are, dwarves do dig, and they dig deep too. I fear that this unfortunate trait within their race one day may unleash unknown terrors."

Shoroya bit her lower lip. "Really?"

He nodded and his face was suddenly stern and his eyes cold, the face of a monarch. "Indeed, dwarves do treasure wealth my lady, and they love to flaunt it too, and they hoard most of it like a mouse fills its lair with grain before the winter cold. "

Shoroya remembered old fairytales she had heard as a child. "Where I am from we have many old tales of heroes who fight and slay dragons guarding huge treasures."

Thranduil turned his head and there was a hint of a smile on his lips. "My lady, our minds do think alike I fear."

He didn't say anything more and Legolas had stood there just listening. Shoroya did see something peculiar in his beautiful blue eyes, a sort of question and confusion. She returned to the room and found Rick asleep, he was snoring and she smiled and decided that it was so late now they could just sleep for the rest of the night. She went to bed and before long she too slept well and didn't have any more dreams.

The next day started with a lot of commotion out in the maze of corridors and walkways, Shoroya did wake up when she heard shouting and running and she dressed and braided her hair in record time. Rick was a bit grumpy for having been awakened thus and he had slept a little too long too and felt dizzy. She ran out to be met by not one but two goats that were running through the hallway with half a dozen masked and armed guards hot at their heels. Shoroya just stopped and glared at the spectacle and she saw that Galion came running too, the butler didn't look happy at all. He stopped and bowed his head before her, a bit short of breath and his eyes were flaring with both rage and a bit of mirth too.

"Goats? Are we gonna have roast goat for dinner tonight?"

The elf shook his head violently. "No my lady, absolutely not, these are being kept for their milk, we make cheese from it and some elflings need some extra milk too"

"Only two?"

He shook his head. "No, we have more like two hundred and these two spawns of Morgoth are the last ones, we have managed to catch the rest of the herd but by Morgoths…ah…never mind, they have made a terrible mess everywhere."

Shoroya knew that no animal is as destructive nor as filled with mischief as the goat and she chuckled as she followed the distraught butler through the palace. The evidence of their presence was obvious, some servants were running around with brooms to get rid of the sticky black beads they left everywhere and she saw that something had gnawed upon some of the priceless hangings and tapestries that adorned the walls. Some furniture had suffered the same misfortune and things were scattered everywhere. Galion rolled his eyes. "This was just what we didn't need right now, with the preparations for the feast and everything."

Shoroya had to ask. "How on earth did they manage to get in here?"

Galion made a grimace and the handsome elf did look a bit as if he was ready to transform the pesky critters into stew right there and then. "Some moron had managed to forget to close the main gate and the one herding the goats had no chance to stop them once they saw the open doors, it was like stopping the entire army of Morgoth with a fork and a spoon."

Shoroya giggled and turned her head as Legolas came running with a terrified expression in his eyes. "Galion?! There are goats in the library?"

The butler turned pale and for a second Shoroya was dead sure that he would pass out. "The library? Oh Sauron's rotten teeth!"

Shoroya had gotten the expression that the butler did favor a very flourishing language to say the least and Legolas looked both shocked and terrified."What were you doing down there anyway?"

Galion were trying to find his composure again and the prince blushed. "Ah, I was just going to look at some maps, but there were three goats there?"

Galion sighed and rolled his eyes. "Eru have mercy upon my soul, this is like trying to govern a madhouse. They didn't catch all of them after all, right, we will have to search each and every room, this will take most of the day"

Shoroya frowned. "But I can imagine that goats in a library can cause quite a lot of damage?"

Galion was about to answer when they heard a roar and then Thranduil came running looking like a thundercloud. He was wearing a beautiful green robe with embroidered vines along the edges and it was probably very expensive but now it looked as if it had suffered an attack from oversized moths. There were holes everywhere and it looked damp too, probably from saliva. Two goats were following the king, one tried to chew some more on his robe and the king looked as if he was ready to draw his sword and behead the naughty animal there and then.

Shoroya didn't laugh, she just looked with her jaw dropped down onto her chest and Galion was pale as a sheet of paper. "My lord?!"

Legolas turned around, his face bright red and he was shivering, he had never seen his father looking like that. Thranduil gave the goat a discrete kick to fend it off and it looked at him with an expression that promised vengeance and lots of it too. "Could someone please get rid of these…little devils?"

Galion waved his hand at two guards who came running by and they grasped the goats by the horns and dragged them out. Legolas was giggling and Thranduil almost growled at his son. Galion was stepping on the spot. "My lord, the library…."

Thranduil spun around, now he too was getting pale. "Don't tell me there are goats there too?!"

Legolas made an apologetic grimace. "Yes, yes there are!"

Thranduil pulled his robe off and tossed it over a chair, he was only wearing a long tunic over his pants and high boots and looked rather menacing. "Then let's go and salvage what we can! Eru's wrath, what a day!"

They got to the library and the king had ordered several servants go accompany them, it was needed. Ten goats had managed to get into the room and Shoroya had to help them get rid of the beasts which had eaten several priceless books and scrolls already. Thranduil held a scroll in his hands and his face was sad. "My father copied this from scrolls once kept within the library of Doriath, it was valuable beyond measure, but now it is chewed up. Valar!"

Legolas did run around and tried to put things back where they were supposed to be and Shoroya did notice that he had something hidden underneath his shirt, it looked like a scroll of some kind? Why would he hide it? Galion and the servants tried to rescue as much of the damaged books and scrolls as they could and the king left, mumbling something about changing robes, roast goat and the end of the world. Shoroya returned to Rick and he had to hear it all two times, he as laughing so hard he almost fell on his ass.

They went for breakfast and the dining hall too bore the marks of the goats, the nice flowers which adorned the room had been eaten and there were droppings all over the floor. The cooks were fuming with rage and the servant maidens looked truly pissed off. The palace of the last king of elves was not some barn but now it did look a bit like one. And it reeked of goat everywhere.

Shoroya spent most of the first half of the day helping out in the herbal garden which had seen its fair share of destruction. It looked as if a tornado had gone through it. Rick helped checking the rest of the palace for more goats and when the job was done it was time to prepare for the feast. Shoroya went to the bath and washed the sweat and the stench off her and Rick went to, he was still chuckling and regretted that he hadn't followed her, cause he really would have liked to see it for himself.

Shoroya got the red dress on and her shoes and she also wore some of her jewelry and Rick jiust wore a pair of black pants he had gotten from a servants and a dark green shirt. He did look handsome enough with his long black hair unbound and Shoroya felt a bit proud of him. The servants had been working their asses off, the great hall didn't look like it had been under siege by a hoard of goats at all and the decorations and everything was as splendid as planned. There were a lot of elves there already when they arrived and Shoroya did in fact bless the goat invasion for it did break the ice. Suddenly there was something she could chat with everybody about and before long she stood there with a glass of wine in her hands and a huge group of ellith around her dying to get the seamstress to copy her dress.

Rick was enjoying himself talking to the hunters and warriors and he explained some hunting techniques from back home. Then there was a lot of food being served and Shoroya saw that many elves looked at the dishes with narrow eyes and shock written all over their faces. The chef had decided to test out some of the new recipes and the elves had never seen hamburgers or pizza or hot dogs before. Shoroya had to admit that they had managed to lift the food to new heights of culinary finesse and it was really delicious. Before long the elves had discovered this too and Shoroya saw that even the king enjoyed a huge slice of the pizza the chef had made.

Rick had brought the bottle of whiskey and offered the king a taste which he gracefully accepted and Rick poured a very generous drink into a wineglass. The elf sniffed the liquid carefully before he sipped at it and he gasped for breath and had to blink away tears. "Sweet Eru, this is indeed liquid fire!"

Rick just grinned and took a sip of his own glass. "Yes, and it burns away every worry and fear known to man"

Thranduil stared at the glass with reluctant respect. "This beats Dorwinion wine when it comes to potency, I have never tasted anything this strong. How is it made?"

Rick leaned forth and whispered. "That is a well-kept secret, but I happen to know a trick or two, I could possibly try to create the equipment needed to make some, if you have some skilled smiths here?"

Thranduil grinned, widely. "Indeed I have, go ahead, you'll get whatever you need."

Rick beamed and Shoroya cringed a bit. She didn't doubt that he knew how to make real whiskey but it would take a lot of testing and failing before they had anything that even resembled that old bottle, but on the other hand, to elves time is just a word.

There was dancing and singing and the mood became very festive and Shoroya had a really good time. She danced with Rick and also with quite a few ellyn and even Galion asked her for a dance. The butler told her that they had prioritized cleaning up the grand hall, there was still quite a mess in some places. The goats were back in their pen but that had required the entire royal guard and some volunteers too.

Shoroya suddenly discovered that she felt at home there, and she didn't feel intimidated by the elves at all. She did also dance once with the king himself and he was extremely graceful and a good dancer. She understood that the people needed this to vent their feelings and forget the darkness gathering around their realm, letting their hair down was a thing they needed to do every now and then.

When the party ended the sun was already rising and some were asleep at the tables while others were partying on. Shoroya saw that the king had retired hours ago and so had Legolas, he wasn't old enough to stay up that long anyhow. She and Rick were among the last ones to leave the room and they went to bed immediately. Shoroya was a bit drunk but she did fall asleep rather fast in spite of it and again she had a strange dream. She stood in some sort of room, it was almost completely dark and it looked a bit like a cave and she felt something move around her, saw red glowing eyes and heard some terrible clattering sounds, they gave her the shivers. Then her eyes got used to the darkness and she saw shapes attached to the walls, wrapped in cobwebs and she did see that some of them had a humanoid shape. There was some movement in some of them and she felt sick to the core. This was a larder, a pantry.

The things she saw moving and heard were spiders and she felt cold sweat running down her body. There was something shiny laying in the mud on the floor, she got closer and stared down at it. It was a circlet, made from something that resembled silver and it was very beautiful and could not belong to anyone of lesser stature. She started to realize the truth and gasped. She opened her eyes with a yell and Rick stared at her with wide eyes. "What is wrong love?"

She sat up in the bed, shivering. "The queen, I know what happened to her, the spiders got her!"

Rick frowned. "What are you talking about?"

She got out of bed and pulled her clothes on, very fast. "I saw it, the mine I dreamed about, it is a place where the spiders keep their victims, alive but subdued until it is time to feed them to their offspring. "

Rick got out of bed too, got his pants on. "Damn it Shoroya, I hope you are wrong!"

She almost panted as she ran out of the door. "So do I"

They ran down the corridor as Rick tried to put on a shirt while moving, they almost collided with Thranduil and Galion. Both were pale and Shoroya could see that something was seriously wrong. Galion gasped for air. "Have any of you seen the prince? His bed haven't been slept in this night and his travelling clothes are gone and so is his horse."

Shoroya gasped and felt as though her legs were about to give in. Thranduil looked terrified and she managed to gather her senses. "Your majesty, yesterday I saw him carrying off a scroll of some kind, I think I know where he is"

The king stared at her, the terror in his eyes all too apparent. He had lost his wife, he would not survive losing his son too. "Where?"

Shoroya swallowed hard. "The old mine, he thinks his mother is there, and I do believe that he might be right about that."

Thranduil swayed, his face so pale he looked like a ghost and Rick and Galion grasped him and sat him down into a chair. "That area is absolutely lethal, and we do not know exactly where the mine was."

Rick had a terrible expression in his face. "But I can track him, as a wolf I can track anything, and there is no time to waste my lord. Your son may be in danger already, you have to make a move now!"

Thranduil just stared, the beautiful blue eyes unfocused and Galion actually slapped him across his cheek, the king jerked and blinked, looked confused. "Thran, we have to act now!"

The king nodded slowly, the dread in his eyes was terrible to behold, the fear one feels for a beloved child that might be in danger is so much worse than the fear one might feel on one owns behalf.

"Yes, gather the best of my guards and saddle our horses, everybody be ready in twenty minutes."

Rick bared his teeth in a snarl. "We will be ready too my lord."

The king just nodded. "I appreciate that my friends. Oh my dear son, how can he be so foolish?"

Shoroya tried to smile. "He has never abandoned hope, and he is young. Do not blame him"

Thranduil got back onto his feet, he swayed but there was strength returning to him. "I won't, ever."

Galion bowed his head. "Thran, do you need your armor?"

The king nodded. The royal expression had returned to his face. "Yes, and my blades. Will you ride with me?"

Galion just nodded. "Always my liege."

Rick grasped Shoroya and they ran back to their rooms, gathered everything they possibly could need. Then they ran to the main entrance, if the prince had left during the night he could have reached the mine already and Shoroya knew it was a death trap. She clenched her teeth together and prayed that they wouldn't be too late.


	5. Deep deep down

**Chapter five: Deep deep down**

They ran down to the courtyard and Rick had already taken off most of his clothes, he was ready to shift and he sent her a strange glance. "I do not know how they will react to it, but I think it is for the better that they see my true form now, and not later."

She nodded, knew the wisdom of his words and she had prepared herself by bringing her machete and she was ready to fight. The elves were waiting, the king was wearing an elaborate armor and looked extremely majestic, he was seemingly calm and collected but Shoroya could smell his fear. Galion stood behind the king and he was a bit pale but he too wore armor and had both a sword and a bow. A warrior came over and gave Shoroya her bow and quiver and she nodded and thanked the warrior. Horses were brought forth and she got a tall long legged gelding she immediately liked, the horse seemed to be both bold and easy to ride.

Rick stood in front of the gates and he took a deep breath and pulled his pants off, he stood naked for a few seconds before he shifted and the elves who hadn't seen his wolf form gasped and backed off a few steps. He bared his teeth and the gates were opened, he had no problems finding the tracks Legolas horse had made and he ran off with the whole troop in hot pursuit. Shoroya knew that he could find the prince, the question was if he was able to find him in time. Legolas was young, inexperienced and naïve and he had probably never had to encounter real evil the way his father had. She hoped that they would find the prince alive and get him back in one piece.

The forest changed a lot along the path they followed, it looked very old and although it wasn't sick it didn't seem benign at all. There was anger seething in the hearts of these trees and the air was thick and heavy and it carried a sort of silent threat. Galion rode next to Shoroya and he bowed his head and smiled at her, although a bit stiffly. "I can see that you feel the song of this forest just as well as we do my lady."

She nodded. "Yes, it feels angry?"

Galion nodded. "Yes, the darkness is spreading and the very forest itself can sense it, it is trying to defend itself."

Shoroya frowned. "Does it succeed with that?"

The butler shook his head. "No, the disease is too strong, it will probably not end until the source of it is eliminated."

Shoroya did understand but she felt that there would be more problems to come before that happened. They rode hard and Rick kept a watchful eye on the surroundings, there could be both orcs and spiders in this area and they could not afford to be delayed by neither. The tracks from the prince's horse were easy to see, the animal had kept a steady and not too great speed and Shoroya saw that the king was getting more and more tense.

They were getting nearer to the area where the old mine was supposed to be and the day was already old, they had ridden for hours although it didn't feel that way, the adrenaline made the time flow so fast it was unbelievable. Rick stopped suddenly and stared at the area they were about to enter, this forest was sick beyond any doubt. Slimy moss covered the rotting trees, strangely colored mushrooms and plants grew in the semi darkness and it stank. It was the scent of death and decay and darkness and Shoroya sneezed and wished that she had had a gas mask or something.

She turned her head. "This area seems particularly bad?"

The butler pushed his horse closer to her and sent her a sad smile. "Yes, it is one of the areas that are hit the hardest, we are not sure of why but I suspect that it has to do with the mine. The rot has completely ruined this forest, you can hear it if you listen."

Shoroya frowned but did what the butler told her to do, she listened and she heard nothing, the trees were not singing, they were silent. They were dead. Instead she heard a different voice, very faint and almost whispering but it immediately made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck and she shuddered. It was a terrible voice, seemingly sweet but laced with poison and it spoke of un-nameable terror, of fell deeds so vile they had no name at all. Galion nodded, his slate grey eyes dark. "Never listen to it, for it will confuse you and lead you astray. Weaker minds have gone insane from this."

Shoroya got a grip on herself, tried to shake off the creeping sensation of being on her way into the dragons lair. "What is it?"

Galion shrugged. "We do not know, in other parts of the wood that are affected by the shadow and the disease it spreads we only hear the trees, they are turned vicious and hateful from it and they can become very treacherous even towards us. But this? It comes from somewhere else, something else."

Shoroya made a grimace. "It gives me the creeps, honestly."

The elf sent her a sad grin. "I understand, it really frightens us too,"

They had slowed down now, Rick was very alert now and Shoroya heard his voice. "Keep your eyes open, I sense something moving up ahead."

She distributed the warning and the elves grasped their bows and quivers, made their weapons ready for battle. "Has anyone been here at all these last years?"

A warrior who rode behind Shoroya answered. "No my lady, this area is forbidden ground, there were patrols sent here too in the beginning to fight off the spiders but too many got killed and some came home suffering from weird illnesses so it became off limits."

Shoroya frowned. "Weird illnesses?"

The elf nodded solemnly. "Aye, they were hallucinating and some got sores and blisters all over. One ellon went mad and killed his own wife and some others went to sleep and didn't wake up again. A couple of them are still alive, apparently caught within never ending nightmares."

She groaned when she heard that, what a terrible destiny indeed. "I see, no wonder it is abandoned then."

Rick suddenly growled, the fur was standing straight up along the wolf's back and the eyes were shining in the dark damp air. "Ahead."

Shoroya shouted a warning and the elves were ready, arrows knocked and swords drawn. She saw that Thranduil had two blades and she didn't doubt that he was capable of fighting with both at the same time, but she didn't really wish to see him demonstrate his skills.

There was a shriek coming from the trees ahead, the foliage was gone and only dead branches could be seen, forming almost a sort of impenetrable blanket up above their heads and they shouldn't really have been able to create so much shade but they did. It was as if the blanket of branches trapped something, a substance of some sort that plotted out the sun and created darkness even at midday. She didn't know what to call it, it was just a lack of light and life and everything good and Galion was a bit pale. "Unlight, that is what this is."

She did understand what he meant, she had never heard the word before but it did describe it perfectly. Unlight, indeed it was. Something was moving through the canopy towards them and Shoroya held her breath. She almost screamed when the first creature came into view, it was a spider but not like the ones she and Rick had fought earlier. These creatures were different, less bulky with longer legs, smaller abdomens and elongated heads with huge eyes adapted to living in the dark conditions of this forest. And their fangs, they were long and sharp and the jaws were terrifying. They reminded Shoroya of camel spiders from the middle east, huge and grotesque and scary. The creatures were making strange shrieking sounds and clattering their jaws as they scurried through the dense canopy and she could see that these were new to the elves.

Thranduil hissed and she saw both disgust and fear in his eyes. She had brought one of her flashlights and turned it on, the bright beam of light hit one of the spiders right in the face and the creature stopped, reared and let out a piercing cry in agony, bright light did hurt them. The underside of the belly was exposed and an archer didn't miss the opportunity, an arrow did fly and it hit the spider with such force it disappeared into the body and only the fletching was left on the outside. The spider dropped dead right away and Shoroya shouted. "Their underside is unprotected, aim for that. The head and upper side is probably armored."

She used the flashlight and did manage to make some spiders forget about the attack and now the archers were firing and they were very accurate and skilled. Most aimed for the spiders eyes and that did in fact kill them if the arrows penetrated deep enough which they mostly did. Some spiders managed to get down onto the ground and Rick went for it and was fighting with loud growls and awesome strength. The wolf ripped the legs off as he had previously and then elves wielding swords and spears could finish the spiders off.

There were many of them though and more was coming and Shoroya grasped her bow and started firing too, she didn't know what chances they had with so many swarming into the area. Then there was a rumbling sound and heavy hot rain started falling and they heard a clash of thunder in the distance, the spiders suddenly retreated and were gone in a flash.

The king sheathed his blades and made a grimace, the swords were covered with thick green blood that stank to high heavens. "I don't think they like thunder."

Galion nodded and held the kings horse so he could mount again. "It could be that they fear lightning, after all, they move through the treetops."

Rick was growling. "The light is fading, we have got to move on. I have almost lost the track."

Shoroya swore, the rain. It would wash away the scent and she yelled to the troop to stop for nothing. There was a hint of reluctant admiration in the kings blue eyes, and he nodded to her. "I bet you would become a great general but I hope that you don't have to."

She spurred her horse with a shout. "So do I"

They rode with bows ready now and she saw from the terrain that they were getting closer to where the old mine had to be. It was placed in an area that was marked off on the map as hilly and she saw hills rising up head underneath a very dark sky. It looked ominous and threatening and the rolling thunder did nothing to ease her nerves. They crossed a small river that was barely flowing, the water looked thick somehow, like grease and its oily surface told everybody that this water was heavily polluted. Galion hissed when the smell of it hit his nose, it smelled like really old stagnant water and it was probably both poisonous and deadly. The horses jumped the stream with ease and didn't stir the water at all and now the hills were right up ahead.

It was one of the archers who saw it first, something light hanging from a tree, it looked like perhaps a piece of cloth from a distance but when they got closer they saw that it was the carcass of a horse. Something had thrown a full grown horse into the branches where it had gotten stuck. Galion moaned and Thranduil went deathly pale. You didn't need to be a genius to understand that this was Legolas own steed.

The horse wore its saddle and bridle but it had been cut into shreds and huge pools of blood covered the ground underneath it, the legs were broken and it looked a bit as if something had taken it by a leg and swung it around like a child swings a toy. Shoroya bit her lower lip, it was a grotesque sight and she wondered what on earth that was strong enough to do something like that? The warriors spread out, desperately searching for the prince and Shoroya saw that they didn't lower their guard at all, they were very alert. This area was silent, eerily silent. There were no spiders in the trees and the trees themselves were dry, white and brittle, not covered with the slimy green moss or the strange discolored vines. They looked like skeletons and Shoroya saw something up ahead.

The hill had a cliff face which was not very big but steep and it looked almost as if something had grasped into the very earth itself and ripped some of it out. And in the middle of the rock face was an opening that looked a bit like a gaping mouth, dark and twisted and screaming. She shuddered, this didn't look like the mine she had seen in her dream? The trees were different and that had been just a hole down into the ground itself. She got off her horse and stared at the hole, it was dug straight into the very rock itself by someone who knew how to mine, that was very apparent but it did look old though. The weird thing was that nothing grew in the area around the tunnel, not even a blade of grass was to be seen.

Thranduil whispered. "This is a place of death"

Shoroya swallowed and walked a bit closer. "I agree, but what I saw looked different, it was just a shaft drilled straight down into the ground and there were rotten trees around it, not dry ones like here."

Galion made a grimace. "Probably a second entrance, dwarfs always made several openings for their mines in case of flooding or just to go after the best ore. The area with white trees is small, it is just around the cliff."

Rick was growling, his eyes red and the teeth were bared. "The scent of the prince is almost gone, but it disappears into that tunnel."

Thranduil moaned, he was very pale and Shoroya could see that his chin shivered, there was dread in his eyes. Galion whispered to her. "He doesn't like going underground, partly because of what happened to a certain underground city in which he was born and also because of a dwarf city which dug too deep and awakened something you really doesn't want to come up against."

Shoroya stared at the elf king, he had a determine look upon his face in spite of his fear. "There is just one thing to do, we have to go in there to find him."

Shoroya swallowed and nodded. "There will be spiders there, my vision told me that."

The elf nodded slowly. "I know."

Shoroya tried to calm down but it was terribly hard, it was as if that tunnel screamed at her, yelled, shrieked. It was a lament and a warning and mixed with it was that terrible sweet poisonous voice which promised so much. "Half of the troop has to stay behind and guard our backs then. "

The king grinned. "A strategist for sure, of course."

Rick suddenly changed back, he got a pair of leather pants from Shoroya. "I am too big to go in there, but my nose is just as keen whence in human form. "

A warrior handed him a sword and he nodded gratefully before they started moving forward. The elves had brought torches and Shoroya had given the king a flashlight and kept one for herself. The elf showed an almost childlike fascination with the thing and she had to warn him that the batteries would be drained fast if he used it the whole time. Every instinct in her body told her that entering the tunnel was suicide but she had to go, there was no other option. The elves looked nervous and Shoroya felt a strange smell coming from the tunnel. It was surprisingly strong and almost chemical, she had no idea of what it was but it was unpleasant.

The tunnel was rather large and well made, the floor straight and it did look almost polished some places but rocks had fallen from the roof and dust had created a thick layer everywhere. But they did see markings in the dust though, footprints made by someone running very fast. Thranduil moaned at the sight and Galion had a weird tense expression on his face. Nobody would run into a dark place like this head over heels unless something chased them. But there were only one set of tracks and Shoroya had to remember what Galion had told her, hallucinations. It could be that the prince had seen something which wasn't even there but seemed very real to his young inexperienced mind.

The tunnel got wider, and it twisted and turned and some places it went up and others down, the rock looked as if it had melted more than been dug out and Shoroya touched the shiny smooth surface with a puzzled expression on her face. She had never seen anything quite like this and she turned her head and caught Galion's eyes with her own. "Do dwarves make tunnels like this one?"

The elf shook his head. "No my lady, they do not! This was not made by dwarves, of that we can be absolutely certain."

Rick had tilted his head, he stared at the tunnel ahead and looked behind them too. "This place makes no sense, it is no mine."

Shoroya looked at him. "What makes you say that?"

Rick nodded towards the smooth walls. "It has no function, it is just a hole through the rock. Nothing has been excavated from this site and it hasn't been made elaborate enough to be someone's home. I think this is a sort of attempt at mimicking a dwarf mine, done by someone or something with absolutely no idea of what it was doing."

Thranduil looked even paler than before, he didn't like the place at all and that was very apparent indeed. Galion stayed close to him the whole time and Shoroya realized that the butler probably also served as a sort of body guard. Not out of duty or because it was a part of his job but because he cared about the king. She sensed a long and strong friendship there and it was in a way almost a bit touching.

They did see something in the thick layer of dust and a warrior moved forth very carefully with soft movements and keen eyes. He picked it up and they saw that it was an empty quiver. It was Legolas own quiver and Shoroya saw that Thranduil's eyes were wide and dark. She could not even begin to imagine how he had to feel right there and then. Galion took the quiver. "It is empty and we have seen no arrows, he must have fired them."

The guard captain in charge of the warriors mumbled. "Then where are they? He is a good shot, he hasn't missed I am sure. "

Rick growled. "He has been firing at something alright, but not anything a mere arrow can injure, I sense something down here, something very ancient and extremely wicked. I do not think we should be here at all, this place is a decoy, a trap."

Shoroya felt her throat go dry, of course it was, but the prince had ventured this way and they could not stop now. Rick lifted his head, his eyes shining red, the wolf was just beneath the surface now. "Something is moving in the darkness beneath us, something massive and strong, something afraid of nothing. "

Galion shuddered and Shoroya saw the fear in the elf's grey eyes but he didn't let the fear overcome him, no one of them did. They were brave, perhaps even a bit too brave. Thranduil sighed. "If this is a trap it is one very impractical one, what is the point in making one very long tunnel?"

Rick grinned. "We are rats, in a maze my lord. And the lure at the end is not a piece of cheese but your son. "

Rick nodded back to the way they had come. "See? That turn wasn't there moments ago"

Thranduil turned and stared, he gasped and the elves all looked a bit flabbergasted. "What wizardry is this?"

Rick tilted his head, as if he was listening for something. "A very powerful magic, one intent on confusing one's mind and soul until one gets hopelessly lost. "

The elven king stared at the shape shifter. "And you? Are you lost?"

Rick shook his head with a sardonic grin. "No my lord, I think this magic only affects those of your world, not someone from ours. "

The elf sighed. "Right then, what are we to do?"

Rick clenched his teeth together. "There are voices in the air here, pleading and begging. I bet there are plenty of souls trapped within this place for some reason. I can hear them."

Shoroya knew that Rick had some talents she didn't, and this was one of them. "What are they saying?"

Rick stared at her. "Beware, don't believe what you see, Free us!"

The elves were standing there looking a bit confused when they heard a real sound, a shuffling of feet and strange squeaks. The warriors immediately grasped their swords but nothing could have prepared them for what they were about to encounter. The torches did light up the tunnel for quite a stretch ahead and the first thing they saw were eyes, strange eyes reflecting light like small disks of silver. They were not far off the ground so whatever it was, it was small but there were many of them.

Then the light hit the creatures to which the shiny eyes belonged and Shoroya had to stifle a scream. She had never seen anything that grotesque, nor surreal. She had seen pictures of fish and amphibians living in underground caves devoid of light, they lost all color and sometimes also the ability to see. This was something very much akin to those strange beings but these were no fish. Galion swore. "Now we know what happened to the dwarves who tried to mine here."

The creatures had to have been dwarves once upon a time, but that was a long time ago. They were small but very stocky with abnormally long arms and the bodies were hairless and the skin almost transparent and very shiny, as if covered with grease. The jaws were wider at the bottom then at the top and teeth did protrude between narrow bloodless lips. The most frightening thing about them were not the appearance although it was terrible enough, no, it was their expressions. The faces told of an acute lack of intelligence but also of hunger, insatiable uncontrollable hunger. The eyes were burning with it and some were licking their mouths with long thin tongues. They were uttering something that may have been words a long ago but it was hard to understand by now.

The elves looked at Thranduil who was staring at the creatures with both disgust, fear and a huge doze of disbelief. He did speak the language of dwarves and he just whispered. "Blood, they are speaking of blood."

Rick swore. "Darn it, they are vampires!"

Galion was shuddering and many of the elven warriors looked terrified, Shoroya stared at the grotesque beings that came slowly walking towards them, they did look a bit like something out of a very elaborate horror movie. She grasped a torch and threw it towards the creatures with all her strength. It landed among them and the mutated dwarf beings scurried away, shrieking in panic. "They fear fire!"

Thranduil stared at her. "So what? We cannot throw away our torches, the flashlights do not provide us with enough light!"

Rick stared at the dwarves, they had gathered again, the torch had been forgotten right away. Their memory was apparently a very faulty one. "Give me one of the canteens you are carrying, you all have a ration of wine right?"

Galion handed Rick his canteen and Rick opened it, he was grinning. "The wine you elves make have a very high level of alcohol. "

The dwarves were so near now the front warriors had started to back away to avoid contact. They could kill many but these beasts were so numerous they sooner or later would be overrun. "What are you thinking about?"

She knew that they would have to fight soon. He took a mouthful of the red liquid and she suddenly remembered how he once had entertained people performing at a fair. He ran forth, holding a torch and he swung it towards the hissing creatures before he spat the liquid out through the flames. It immediately caught fire and rained down over the small beasts that let out blood chilling shrieks of horror. The burning wine did cause huge burns and the elves immediately knew what to do. They copied Rick's actions and soon a wall of burning bodies and wine blocked the tunnel. Thranduil just stared. "I had never in all of my long years imagined that my warriors one day would be transformed to dragons. "

Shoroya just hissed, the stench of burned meat and skin was overwhelming for her keen senses and she feared that this was the beginning of their real problems. Rick was standing there leaned forward, ready to fight and the elves had actually already cut down the few surviving dwarves, but it just couldn't be that easy now could it? There was a rumbling sound coming from up ahead and the air seemed to shiver and tremble. The tunnel was sealing itself off and Rick cursed. "We have to retreat, now!"

The king moaned and looked as if he didn't really know what to do, Galion grasped him by his elbow with some force and yanked him out of it. They started running back but it soon became very apparent that the tunnel they now followed wasn't the one they had followed on the way in. And soon they were stopped once more. The tunnel was getting wider but the shape was different too, it looked more natural and not so elaborate. The ground was covered with what looked like really disgusting worms, thick as a man's thigh and twice as long as an average man. They looked like earthworms in a way but the head end was just a huge mouth with vicious serrated teeth and the things were covered with goo and shone in the torch light. They filled the tunnel for what seemed like a rather long stretch, there was no way anyone could sneak past these freakish looking things and there was no doubt whatsoever to the nature of the beasts. These were lethal and the elves stopped and stared.

Thranduil gave a sign and some archers fired arrows at the beasts but they didn't seem to affect them at all. "Arrows will not do the trick, more fire?"

Shoroya shook her head. "Nope, see their hide? They look flame resistant, I think I have figured this out by now."

Galion raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

She nodded and stared at the strange beings. No such thing should exist and she had a sensation of disbelief when looking at them. "We are being tested, our strategies and defenses determined"

The elves stared at her and she sent them a somewhat cold grin. "We are dealing with an intelligence here, vicious and evil. It wants to know us before it strikes to deliver the death blow."

Thranduil hissed and his eyes were rather cold. "Then it is not almighty, it cannot afford mistakes right?"

Shoroya nodded. "It is impossible to detect all of our weaknesses without revealing its own flaws, it becomes a calculated risk I am sure. Yes, whatever it is, it has something I am sure we can exploit."

Galion nodded towards the huge area filled with the nasty worms. "So, what do we do with those?"

Shoroya made a grimace. "Nothing, we turn around, let's see what it chooses to do then. I bet we won't come to the end of the tunnel but find some new danger. If we keep fleeing from dangers it will be forced to make a move eventually and then we might be able to determine the nature of our enemy"

Thranduil nodded with narrow eyes. "Wise words, it is a game then, a challenge."

Shoroya smiled. "Indeed it is, whatever it is that is waiting deep down in this hill it is both proud and confident. We have to do the unexpected, tip it out of balance. If it gets annoyed or curious enough it will reveal itself I am sure. "

Thranduil made a grimace, his eyes distant. "Then let's hope that it isn't something we can't hope to defeat."

Rick was just staring at the worms, he cocked his head slightly. "Tell me, has anyone of you something against worms? Do you fear them? Loathe them somehow?`"

Many eyes stared at Rick with confusion but one of the warriors looked a bit sheepish. "I do my lord, I am terrified of worms, some friends of mine filled my bed with worms while I was sleeping and when I woke up they were everywhere. I have hated them ever since. "

Rick grinned. "I knew it, the things we encounter here are coming from ourselves, from our phobias."

He turned towards Thranduil. "You hate dwarves right?"

The elven king looked a bit ashamed of himself. "Well, I will not say that I hate them but I do not like them. They are uncouth and show little respect for others and they have awful manners too."

Galion was a bit pale. "So it creates what we fear if I am understanding you right?"

Shoroya sighed. "Yes, it is probably able to snatch our fears right out of our thoughts. So from now on, think only of positive things, try to concentrate on your favorite activities. "

Many of the elven warriors were staring at each other with wry expressions on their faces and Rick sniggered. "Well, I think that whatever it is will get a surprise now."

They turned around and started heading back, the warriors had their bows ready and when they had walked for a while they were sure that they should have gotten back to where the dwarves had been but the tunnel was open and no carcasses were to be seen.

They were making progress when one of the warriors suddenly broke out of the line and tried to run forth, his face filled with disbelief and joy. He was shouting a name and some others grasped onto him and held him back and he was fighting them rather hard, screaming what had to be protests. One of the warriors smacked him across the head and the struggling ellon went limp. Shoroya stared at the elf with huge eyes and Thranduil moaned. "He saw his wife, she has been missing for years, what does this mean?"

Rick cocked his head. "A change of tactics, from what we fear to what we want, it has understood us a bit too well. "

Shoroya bit her lower lip. She thought she could hear that voice even clearer now, whispering promises of everything she could ever long for. Even becoming a normal human being. She snarled and blocked her mind off, her eyes dark and menacing and filled with rage. "Try to not think of anything at all, I will try to manipulate that son of a bitch or whatever it is."

They moved forth again and Rick was using his nose, the air changed a bit and he knew that they were far into the mountain now. He tried not to think of the thousands of tons of rock above their heads. They walked slowly and now there was a soft noise coming from ahead. Suddenly the tunnel was filled with small cute fluffy kittens and Shoroya grinned widely and her eyes were filled with determination. "It is really being affected by our thoughts, I pretended to be terrified of kittens and lo and behold."

They just walked through the meowing and purring mass of massive cuteness and when everybody was through the kittens just disappeared. "The thing creates stuff right out of the air, powerful or what? But everything has its limits."

Rick nodded. "Everybody, think of something very nice, and benign."

The elves nodded and before long the tunnel was filled with everything from freshly baked bread to flowers and candy. Shoroya grinned. "A diabetic's nightmare for sure."

Thranduil groaned. "All this is well and good but we are not making any progress are we?"

Shoroya sighed. "Nope, we are not. As I said earlier, this place is a trap, a bait. We should have tried to find the entrance from my vision right away. I bet that is where Legolas really is."

Galion sighed. "Then what do we do?"

Rick had stopped and he took his pants off and threw them to Shoroya, shifted and the huge wolf shook itself. "We are not as affected by the illusions as the elves are. I think I can lead us out but that will demand a lot of everybody."

Shoroya looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Rick bared his teeth and the black wolf looked very frightening there and then. "You cannot fear nor want what you cannot see. Everybody must close their eyes and follow me."

Shoroya told the elves of Rick's suggestion and many went pale but Thranduil nodded sternly. "Then be it, everybody, grasp onto the cloak of the one in front of you and do not open your eyes until you are told to. "

The warriors did obey but reluctantly and Rick was leading them on, one brave ellon held on to the black wolf's tail and the others followed him. It was an absurd sight but the most absurd thing was that the wolf was leading them straight through the walls. The tunnels were illusions in themselves and he was able to determine where the real tunnel was just by his nose. He was following the scent from outside of the hill and the whole place was probably filled with tunnels and holes like an anthill. You would get helplessly lost within this place if you ventured in without a line to hold on to.

After a small eternity or so it seemed they felt the scent of fresh air and Shoroya also smelled something else, a strange odor she couldn't recognize but it somehow reminded her of the ocean. They ran out of the tunnel with their eyes closed and Rick barked to make them open them again for now they were needed indeed. The half of the troop that had been left behind to guard their backs had been attacked and were desperately defending themselves against something that couldn't have been taken from anyone's mind. This was something the entity down underneath the hill had brought out of its own mind, an awful mix of the gods alone knew what species.

Shoroya moaned, now they knew what it was that had killed Legolas's horse and she knew that they were in trouble. The thing was very tall, it reached well above the dead trees and it looked a bit like an octopus with four strong legs underneath it and several rows of tentacles up along the body, the head resembled that of a baboon but it was swollen and contorted and the eyes were white and dead. The thing had a tail too, with rows of sharp spikes and even though it had been peppered with arrows it was still moving around, trying to grasp the fleeing elves with the tentacles.

Shoroya saw that several tentacles had been cut off already but it didn't appear to be lacking any? One of the warriors shouted. "My king, if we cut one part of, it just grows back out."

The thing was fast, that was the most terrifying thing about it, it was swirling around and the elves had to rely on their own speed and agility to avoid its tentacles. Several warriors were wounded already and several seriously. Thranduil started shouting orders, he reorganized the defense and Shoroya had an idea. "Try to burn the tentacles, it worked for a hero from our world who fought something akin to this monstrosity."

Thranduil nodded and turned towards them. "Go, find the other entrance, you can do it. I fear we only will see more illusions if we try. Find my son, save him."

Shoroya bit her lower lip but Rick growled in agreement. "Come, time is running short. Let's go."

She threw one last glance towards the fighting elves, then she jumped onto Rick's back and they ran into the dark forest, she had a sensation of dread. Heaven alone knew what they would encounter out there in this death trap.


	6. the heart of darkness

Chapter six: The heart of darkness

The forest was very dark, and the stench of decay made Shoroya sneeze, she knew they had to hurry but it wasn't that easy finding their way through this jungle of fallen trees and dead vegetation. "I do not know where we are supposed to go! It could be anywhere!"

Rick growled. "No, it cannot. If what you saw indeed was an old mine it can only be in a place with solid rock close to the surface, a swamp won't do. We have to look for a flat area that is elevated."

Shoroya knew he was right but the circumstances could have changed, areas that were dry could be flooded by now and vice versa. A mine cannot be placed in a soggy area, she knew that but the forest was blocking their view, all they saw was darkness in every direction. She swore, feeling how desperation was creeping in on her. Rick was trotting along and it seemed as though he had a direction he followed. "Do you know something I don't?"

He panted. "Look at the fallen trees Shoroya."

She frowned and started paying more attention to her surroundings, then it struck her. "Oh, now I see, they all point in the same direction. "

He increased the speed he had been running with. "Yes, away from whatever it is that is causing all this."

The darkness seemed impenetrable but Shoroya's keen eyes could see that some of the sick looking vegetation in fact was fluorescent and threw a very faint greenish light around it. And the feeling of fighting their way through glue got stronger and stronger. Something didn't want them there, something was set on stopping them. "It is afraid of us."

Rick nodded and snarled, he had to fight to be able to step forth now. "Let's hope we can manage to distract it, it could buy our friends some time."

Shoroya felt her own skin tingle, the magic in the air was so strong it made everything seem to vibrate and she could not help but feel that what they were doing was going into a room where a bomb is placed, knowing the fuse is lit. She was no warrior, no wizard but she felt that this magic was old and determined and it wasn't at all good. The forest became an obstacle course, it was very hard finding a way through it. Shoroya got an idea, she got her bow and nocked an arrow, sent it through the air aiming for nothing at all but there was a sort of sound resounding through the air around them. For a second the resistance felt less compact and Shoroya bared her teeth. "It is all around us, it is more spirit than flesh I think."

They rushed forth, Shoroya felt how invisible powers were tugging at her, trying to stop her but she didn't let it stop her. If she had been of this world she would probably have seen something absolutely awful but since she wasn't she could only feel it. Rick was so strong he was able to push through no matter what and the great wolf was baring his teeth and the eyes were glowing red and vicious. Then suddenly the resistance was gone, as if they had burst through a wall and in front of them was the clearing she had seen in her dream. The remains of mining equipment scattered around, the soil bare and hardened and the mine clearly visible like a mouth opening up into the very bowels of the earth. The hole wasn't that large but it was extremely dark and fumes were rising from it, oily and disgusting. It smelled of death and Shoroya had never seen a less inviting place.

Rick changed back, he snorted and tried to avoid looking at the hole. It was obvious that it troubled him. "We have to go down there but I don't think it is very smart."

She shook her head. "Of course it isn't, but we have to try, I think we can have a fighting chance though, we are something it haven't anticipated fighting."

Rick got his pants on. "Oh I hope you are right love, cause this I don't like at all."

Shoroya had brought rope and they attached it to a tree, made sure the knots couldn't come undone and Shoroya lit her flashlight. The beam of light was strong but so very thin and the darkness was so great. It seemed like a pathetic thing but it was all they had. The drop wasn't that long, the mine shaft was perhaps ten meters deep before it broke into several tunnels and these were rough and uneven and it was very obvious that this had been a real mine. Pieces of ore lay everywhere and Shoroya did notice that there were none of the usual debris one could anticipate at the bottom of an open shaft like that. No dead leaves, dead animals or even dust. Down there it was as if the mine had been abandoned the day before and she didn't like it. Not at all.

Rick was shuddering, the stench was unbearable and it only got stronger, like something solid in the air and they covered their faces with cloth although it didn't do much good. Rick stared at the veritable maze of mining tunnels ahead of them. "So, where do we head now?"

Shoroya bit her lower lip, she took a look around. "I am not sure, honestly. The prince is down here somewhere, but only heavens knows where."

Rick lifted his head, his eyes spoke of the disgust he felt. "I say follow my nose, we are heading for the layer of the beast right? And I seriously doubt that it smells like flowers."

Shoroya had to grin in spite of the gravity of the situation. "Right, follow the stench then."

They headed towards the tunnel that had the most horrible smell and Shoroya did notice that it was heading in the direction from which they had come, that probably meant something. The tunnel looked as if it was ready to collapse, roots had pulled rocks from the ceiling and they saw huge cracks many places and the darkness barely gave way for the light from the flashlight. Shoroya had no idea of how long they had been down there, it seemed as though it lasted forever though. The stench was just as strong and now she could hear something, like distant voices and they were dripping with malice and hunger. There was a sensation of being watched and Rick growled. "We are not alone down here."

Shoroya just held her bow tightly. "No shit!"

There was a clattering sound, dry noises like wood moving, a sensation of sudden movements. Rick whispered to her. "Spiders, I recognize the smell."

Shoroya nodded, she felt how the hairs stood up at the back of her neck. "Right, what I saw was a larder, it makes sense."

They moved forth and the tunnel split in three, they continued on the same course and now they definitely knew that they were being pursued by something. The tunnel got wider, it looked more well made and there was something akin to decorative patterns chiseled into the stone. Shoroya stared at it, it gave her the creeps. "Rick, I feel as though I am in a Lovecraft novel right now"

He grinned. "So do I, that thing up there did remind me a bit of good old Ctulhu."

They entered chambers, some were huge while others were rather small but they all had one thing in common, they were filled with cobwebs and the smell was so bad Shoroya felt as though she would puke at any second. Rick stared down. "Look, footprints."

She followed his gaze, he was right. "Has to be Legolas, cannot be anyone else. "

Rick looked almost feral at the moment, there was something in his eyes that told her he was close to unleashing a side of himself very few had ever seen. This called for unorthodox methods and she wished that she could help him. They followed the footprints, then they came across a spot where the tracks were disturbed by other tracks, there had been a struggle for they saw the carcasses of two huge spiders with huge gashes in their soft bellies and there was blood there. Rick made a grimace. "Not spider blood."

Shoroya gasped. "He cannot be dead, oh God."

Rick put his back and howled, the sound made the walls vibrate and they heard shrieking sounds. "You just told everything down here that dinner is served?!"

He shook his head. "Everything down here already know we are here, listen."

They heard a faint noise, a sort of distant squeal and they quickly moved towards the sound. It was a side tunnel or rather chamber and it was filled with cobwebs, and within the webs were shapes. Some large while other were small and Shoroya felt sick knowing what they were. The spider's pantry, most of these creatures were probably alive. Rick sniffed the air, he cringed. "Smell that?"

Shoroya used her nose. The stench of death almost masked a different smell, one she didn't associate with this world at all. "Oil?!"

He nodded. "We are deep, look at that layer of rock over there. It is slate with oil in it, they are digging for the stuff in Canada."

Shoroya went over and yes, it was oil, drops had seeped through the rock and onto the floor over the centuries and the ground was greasy and dark. Rick had something strange in his eyes, he grasped a dry root from the ceiling and put it in the oily substance, then he grasped his lighter and lit it and it burned with a fierce flame. "I have an idea, but it will be our last resort."

She nodded, she knew what he was thinking about. They moved again and now they suddenly saw movement, one of the cocoons were freshly made and they heard that sound again. Shoroya grasped her machete and cut it down, the strings were sticky and hard to cut through but she did manage to do it. They pulled the young elf from the web and he looked awful. There were bruises and cuts everywhere and he had been bleeding profusely from a cut on his head and one at the back of his hip. He coughed and his eyes were wild. "You shouldn't be here, they are everywhere!"

Shoroya took a look around, she did recognize the chamber from the nightmarish dream she had had and she let the flashlight slide from side to side across the floor. There was something shiny in the dust and she went over and picked it up, it was the circlet she had seen and she started looking at the cocoons surrounding them more closely. Some were too small but she saw one at the back of the room which looked promising. She got closer and then she gasped as she saw a hand sticking out of it. The person was hanging upside down and the hand was white as snow and lifeless. But it wasn't rotten or anything and Shoroya got closer, driven by a morbid fascination and a mounting sensation of knowing. She grasped the hand, it was soft and cold and on it was a ring, she had seen a similar ring earlier that day. She just knew it then, this was the queen, Legolas mother. She cut the cocoon down and Rick stared at her. "What are you doing? We cannot waste time now!"

Shoroya just swore and ripped the web away, it was old and brittle and easier to remove and she quickly uncovered the face. It was an elleth and Legolas saw the face and let out a sort of wailing shout. "Naneth!"

Rick rolled his eyes. "Perfect!"

The prince was by Shoroya's side right away, trying desperately to remove the rest of the web. Shoroya could barely feel a pulse, the elleth was almost dead and she had no idea of how to help the poor soul. How were they to get both of them out of there? Legolas whimpered. "There are spiders everywhere, haven't you seen them?"

Rick shrugged. "No, they are waiting, I think they are under the control of someone, or something."

He grasped the unconscious elleth and threw her across his shoulder as soon as the web was removed, she was almost naked and just skin and bone. The hair was a thick tangled golden mass and Legolas caressed her hand with tears streaming down his face. "Naneth, please wake up. I heard you, I heard your voice, I came"

Rick held the torch with one hand and they were on the way out of the chamber when they saw that the tunnel was blocked, by spiders. They turned around and then they saw that they were surrounded by the monsters and Shoroya felt a powerful presence, an intelligent malice that had to be the source behind all of it. Rick swore, he had no idea of what to do next and Shoroya braced herself, they were about to meet the one who ruled this underground realm.

The prince was shaking with fear and weaponless and Rick carried the queen, Shoroya knew that this would stand or fall on her determination and she had a sensation of knowing a truth about herself she had been oblivious to before. In this world she could change whenever she wanted to, she just felt it. The spiders moved aside, bowing as if in reverence and Shoroya stared at the creature approaching them with narrow eyes. It looked like an elleth, tall and elegant with a slender frame, porcelain skin and midnight dark hair, a thing of incredible beauty. Shoroya knew it was a lie, an illusion. The elleth wore a rather bold dress which showed more than it hid and on her forehead she wore a circlet with a huge gemstone in the middle. It was seemingly shining but there was no light, instead it seemed to devour the light itself. It was magnificent though, sparkling with unholy energy and so beautiful and yet twisted it made you ache looking at it. Legolas gasped. "A dark Silmaril."

The creature stood there, staring at them with a haughty grin on her mouth and her head held high, sure of victory. Rick whispered to Shoroya. "That bitch is no elf, heck no"

Shoroya nodded. "No she isn't."

The elleth grinned, a vicious grin. "Oh, that is cute, the mother and son reunited, all we lack is for the father to fall into my snares too, but fear not, he will, soon."

Legolas was about to shout something but Rick put his hand over the young elf's mouth. "I think you miss have a bit too much confidence."

The elleth laughed, a very shrill sound. "Such a defiant adan, I bet you will taste good."

Rick bared his teeth. "Oh, you will be surprised."

Shoroya stared at him for a second, they exchanged a glance of understanding. "You get them out, I take care of that bitch."

The elleth didn't understand their language, she looked angry. "Quick, who are you, I want to know before I kill you."

Rick whispered to Legolas. "Can you fire Shoroya's bow?"

The elf just nodded and she handed the weapon over to him behind her back, she was preparing herself for what could be her final fight but she could not hesitate. Rick almost bowed. "Before we answer your polite question ma'am I would like to know who you are who think you can trap the royal family without facing any sort of retaliation?"

The elleth gave him a sly grin. "I like it when my dinner is polite, yes, behold my glory before I devour you and that runt of an elfling. I am the true ruler of these woods, and I will rule forever."

She seemed to shiver and where the elleth had stood they saw a spider, a giant one looking extremely grotesque. It was a light grey and pinkish in color and the skin was wrinkly and seemed moldy and sick and the eyes were dark red and burned with hunger and malice. Legolas gasped. "Spawn of Ungoliant."

The spider hissed, the dark jewel was embedded in its forehead and it was still shining, giving the thing power and magic. Shoroya knew what she had to do. "Now you know to whom you ought to bow mortal one, any last words before my minions feed upon your juices?"

Rick grinned, a wide and dangerous grin. The thing hadn't been out there herself, hadn't seen the truth about the nature of the intruders. It had felt their presence and the strength of their souls and defiance but she hadn't seen them in the flesh. She believed only what she saw. "Yes you sack of molded rot, a question. "

The spiders got closer, hissing angrily and the great one shrieked in rage, Rick growled and the sound was so inhuman it made the great spider hesitate for a few seconds. "Why did Pinocchio stop masturbating?"

The spider looked confused and Rick laughed, a wild laugher that echoed through the chamber. "Because his hands caught fire!"

He dropped the torch and at first nothing happened, then the very air next to the ground did combust and flames were licking along the ground like hungry hands pulling and tugging at everything. Rick did what he usually never took the risk at doing, he changed but not completely. It was a state where he had a human shape but he was also wolf, walking on two legs with his hands free and the head was his usual wolfs head. Now he looked like the classical were wolf and he grasped the torch again and ran, the young prince at his heels. The spiders screamed in fear, panic broke out since the chamber was filled with fire. Shoroya saw that the great spider tried to call her minions back but the flames were too scary and they were spreading. Shoroya had always worshiped the great mother goddess, to her that was natural so she whispered a short prayer and then she let her inner powers go to work. This abomination should never be allowed to live, to fight again.

She felt her clothes rip as the panther sprung forth, larger and stronger than ever before. Muscles like steel moved underneath the velvety dark fur and she roared, a terrible roar that made the rest of the smaller spiders run away. The great one was shocked, it had never encountered such a beast and Shoroya used that to her advantage. She jumped forth, claws out and jaws wide open. She hit the spider in the head, crushed several of its eyes and ripped the rest out with a swipe with a mighty paw. The spider shrieked, it reared back, blinded but not helpless. It lounged forth, trying to bite or push the great panther down but the feline was too fast. Shoroya crushed several legs and the spider tried to use its magic to restore itself but the panther wouldn't let it. The magic came from the jewel, without it the spider was just a spider, huge and dangerous but an animal and nothing more than that. The spider did manage to toss her into the wall a few times and the fire was making the air extremely hot now, the smoke made breathing hard and Shoroya knew that they had to get out of there soon.

She did a fake attack, snarled and moved as if to rip the legs on the left side of the grotesque thing and the spider spat venom and tried to bite but Shoroya jumped, an elegant jump that brought the great cat over the spiders head and onto its back. There she spun around and the spider shrieked a terrible high pitched cry as it felt mighty jaws closing around the jewel. The panther's incisors cut deep into the tissue, ripped through its tough exoskeleton and locked around the jewel, ripped it from the spider's skull in a mighty yank. There was a cry, the earth itself seemed to answer and it shook violently. The jewel was burning hot, scorching but the panther wasn't hurt, she sprang from the spiders back and the terrible creature gargled and tossed around, driven insane by pain and the loss of its power. The flames were spreading now, soon the whole underground realm would be engulfed and Shoroya spun around with the jewel in her mouth and ran. The fire singed her coat and hurt her paws but she didn't stop or hesitate. She ran like a dark wind through the tunnels and the flames travelled right behind her, eager to devour anything they could touch.

The minion spiders were leaderless, they fled but many got burned or exploded due to the heat and she came across many carcasses which had been shot or ripped apart by Rick. She caught up with them, they were running like mad and Legolas did toss himself up onto her back, it was barely room for them in the tunnel but they got through even though the ground still was shaking. The hole up towards the forest was a problem, Shoroya gathered her strength and made it up in one almighty jump and then she looked down as Rick changed and tied the rope around Legolas mother. They all were singed and smelled of smoke and death but she hauled the three of them out and not a second too late. The mine became a chimney and hot smoke poured out of it.

Legolas was coughing and he was covered with sooth, the unconscious queen looked even worse and Rick growled, he looked more or less insane. "I hope the bitch is dead?"

Shoroya nodded. "Burned to a crisp I recon, I took her power. "

She still had that jewel between her teeth and it was still hot, she felt its rage, its evil intent and knew that nobody ever would be able to control it. It was just darkness incarnate and she wondered what they should do with it. Rick changed again. "We have to help the other elves, quick"

Legolas tied his mother to Rick's back, then he jumped up onto Shoroyas sleek black back and the wolf and the panther ran through the woods like giant shadows. They returned to the clearing in front of the false mine and what they saw was unbelievable. The great monster was dead, it had probably fallen the moment the jewel was pried from the head of the great one but there were spiders everywhere now. They were fighting like mad against the elves and the false mine was actually gone. There was no hole in the mountain now, just a sleek wall. Legolas let out a cry, he saw his father fighting several spiders at once and it was obvious that the king was tired. Galion was there too, protecting his back and the two was fighting like a well established unit.

The prince grasped the bow and started shooting, the arrows killed a spider each and he slid down from Shoroya's back. A couple of warriors came and pulled the queen from Rick's back, then the panther and the wolf went into battle again. Shoroya felt a strange rage filling her, she had never been this free before, this unleashed. Her paws crushed spiders head and she was way too fast for them to have time to injure her. She was like a deaths harvester and the spiders began retreating now. They knew the battle was lost. Thranduil ran to Legolas, embraced his son whimpering with relief and then he saw the unconscious elleth and fell to his knees with huge eyes and a strange mewling sound. Galion had to grasp onto him so he didn't collapse completely.

The butler yelled orders, he could have been a very good warrior or even a general if he hadn't been Thranduil's servant. The wounded were gathered and put onto the horses, some stretchers were build and Shoroya saw that there were casualties but not terribly many. The horses were nervous but were calmed down. Shoroya saw smoke seeping out of the ground in several places and knew that there was a wildfire raging underground now.

Suddenly the ground opened in the middle of the clearing, a burning monstrosity staggered out, it was the great spider. It wasn't dead yet, some of the magic of the dark jewel had to be left inside of it since it was alive. It roared and Thranduil threw himself onto his feet, grasped a spear from a startled ellon and he roared in rage. It was a terrible sound, this thing had almost cost him his son and maybe his wife and it wouldn't be allowed to have happened without vengeance being delivered. He ran forth and the spider felt his presence, for a moment he appeared to be glowing, as if carrying some sort of internal fire and the spider reared, its fangs clicking and venom spraying from its mouth. The tall sinda rammed the spear into the spider's underside, pierced the head completely and jumped out of the way as the spider fell crashing to the ground in its final death throes.

Rick growled. "Now it is most certainly dead."

Thranduil walked back, he was pale. "Legolas is wounded and my wife needs a healer too. Fast!"

Rick nodded. "The horses are not as fast as we are, if you do not fear riding a wolf or a panther?"

The king shook his head. "I am honored."

Galion gathered the warriors and prepared them for the journey back home and Rick nodded to Shoroya. "You carry the king and the queen, you are stronger than me now."

She hadn't noticed before but she was indeed larger than him now. "Yes, and I will stop for nothing"

The king grasped a piece of rope from a horse and tied it around her chest just to have something to hold onto and he got up with a nervous expression. They lifted the queen up and she saw the love and the worry in his eyes. There had to be something they could do for them, she just couldn't think of what. Legolas was weak and pale and in great pain but he had a tough spirit and didn't allow it to stop him. He was clinging onto Rick's fur and the two ran. Shoroya knew the way back now, she ran in mighty leaps and heard the elf gasp in a mixture of excitement and fear, her strength was so much greater than that of any horse. The skies cleared as they ran through the forest, the stars came out and a pale moon lighted their path. Shoroya could run like that for days, she gave it her all and Rick fell behind, he wasn't that fast.

The stars were blinking and twinkling and she heard Thranduil talking to his wife, the voice thick with emotion, losing her now would break him completely for sure. They rushed through the woods and it seemed as though the trees cleared the path for them, no roots made her trip, branches moved out of the way and she heard the forest whisper and moan, the queen was found, the queen was returning.

Her claws dug into the soft ground, her legs stretched with tremendous force, she jumped across brooks and creeks and fallen trees, jumped cliffs and ran across great branches to cross the gorges that split the very ground itself in some places. When the sun was rising above the trees they rushed onto the path leading up to the palace. Shoroya gave it her all, she almost lay flat along the ground as she ran towards the gates and the guards just stared in disbelief. Thranduil slid from the back of the great panther and grasped the queen. "Get the healers, now!"

Shoroya lay in the shade, panting and trying to get her breath back when Rick came running with the prince, he too was brought to the healers immediately and Rick lay down next to her. "Can you change back?"

She sighed internally. "I do not know, I am too tired I think."

They just lay there, recovering. Shoroya had the jewel still, it was almost painful being this close to it but she felt that she would find an answer to the questions she had soon.

The soldiers returned under the command of Galion and there was chaos for a few hours, people running around seeing to the wounded and comforting those who had lost family members. Shoroya had almost fallen asleep when Galion came out, he looked tired. Rick had changed back and he wore a sort of kilt one of the warriors had given him. He sat there chewing on some meat and Shoroya was hungry but didn't want to eat anything yet. The butler sat down on a rock and made a grimace. "The prince will be okay, he has lost some blood and has broken a rib but otherwise from that he will be fine. He just need some rest, they are very resilient that bloodline."

Rick's eyes got narrow. "The queen?"

Galion sighed and looked down, his eyes distant. "A whole different tale. She is extremely weak, it is not likely that she will wake up again ever, she is fading. "

Rick swallowed hard. "There is nothing you can do?"

Galion shrugged. "Her fëa, soul, is injured, we elves are more spirit than flesh, we can recover from wounds to the body, the soul on the other hand is far more vulnerable."

Rick sighed. "The king, what about him?"

Galion had a sore expression on his face. "He has his son to think about, and at least he has closure. He knows what happened to her, it is a relief in itself. But it will be hard on him, very hard."

Shoroya sighed again. If there only was something to do. Galion looked at the jewel and he looked a bit scared of it. "That is deviltry, the work of Morgoth I am sure, I can feel it!"

Rick just shrugged. "I am not going to contradict you, you are right."

The butler just sent them a faint grin. "I have to return, he is refusing to leave her side at all. I just pray that she will make it."

Rick frowned. "So do we, believe me."

The day went by, Rick went into the palace but Shoroya stayed, she was too tired to try to shift back to her human form and as the darkness fell the area fell quiet. It was beautiful and she lay there admiring the lovely nature and the scent of the forest. She heard elves singing and let her mind just drift as she relaxed. There was a light in front of her, she blinked and got up, stared at a tall figure surrounded by light. He looked a bit like an elf and yet not and the face was strict and gentle, the face of a benign and also strict king. She felt a need to bow down to him and she did, he smiled and got closer. He seemed to shrink, he had been tall as the trees or so it seemed and now he was the height of a very tall ellon. He bowed his head. "Daughter of Earth, I have come to collect the dark jewel."

She knew who he was. "Manwë."

He smiled. "Yes child, that is my name in this world. The jewel you took is evil indeed, it cannot remain here for it will corrupt even the wise and gentle. It is indeed darkness distilled."

She saw that the Vala took the jewel, very carefully and wrapped it in black cloth. "What is it really?"

Manwë smiled, a sad smile. "Something that never should have been. When Fëanor forged the silmarilli he created something everybody would covet, Morgoth did too. But the jewels were sanctified and would not suffer his touch, he could not control them. He tried to create his own Silmarilli and this was one of those attempts. It wasn't strong enough and was tossed from his fortress into the skies and landed here. The dwarves felt its pull and dug down, awakened it and the result was as you saw."

She did understand. "What will you do with it?"

The Vala smiled again, very comforting smile. "Toss it out through the doors of night, into the great void where it will remain forever."

Shoroya shivered. "Good riddance, I hate that thing already."

The Vala chuckled. "No wonder, you are a child of light in spite of the things you have done."

She would have blushed had she been in human form. "I am a killer."

The Vala nodded solemnly. "Yes, but you never kill the innocent, you are like a reaper, removing the weeds from the great garden so that the beautiful flowers may bloom once more. No, you are not evil my beautiful one, the forces do look upon you and your mate with friendly eyes, doubt it not."

He got closer and let a hand slide through her fur. "I will give you the gift of being able to shift whenever you need to, even when tired like now. And I grant thee both the lives of the immortal if you choose it. You have done a great deed, and prevented great evil from taking root within the forest, ask me any favor and I will grant it."

She would have grinned. "Then there is a couple of small things I would like, nothing much really."

The next day the king was shook out of his sleep by a very shocked healer, the queen was awake and completely healed and so was Legolas. Galion saw his king run like a madman to the healing ward and there he was embraced by a completely well but very confused elleth who looked as if she hadn't been gone at all. It was a miracle.

Shoroya had changed back and the palace was in an uproar, it had to be the work of the Valar and she giggled and didn't tell anyone of the small encounter with the lord of the Valar. The king didn't leave the queens side for the next days and Rick and Shoroya was left on their own. There was so much going on right there and then. Then a great feast was being held to celebrate the return of the queen and Rick and Shoroya were honored guests. It was very apparent that the king now was grateful beyond words and Shoroya felt embarrassed by all the praise they received. She didn't feel as though she deserved it at all. Rick was as stoical as usual as the king anointed him knight of Greenwood and he accepted the beautiful sword he was presented with gladly.

Shoroya had had a sly grin on her face the whole night and when the party finally started to slow down she approached the king and bowed before him. Thranduil was almost hugging her, his usually cool demeanor gone for the night. The queen was still weak but she was returning to full health and she had no memory of what had happened so they had to tell her everything, although with caution. She was still in a frail state of mind and everybody had been given strict orders to not say anything unless the king himself had told them to. She curtsied, grinning like mad. "My lord, I have spoken with a certain Vala, and he granted me some wishes, and I have a gift for you and your son."

Thranduil looked at her with a rather sheepish expression, then he realized how he looked and he managed to return to his normal self but his eyes were still filled with awe and confusion. "A gift? My lady, it is I who should be showering you in gifts, you helped save my wife and son, yes my whole realm. My gratitude is without boundaries."

She smiled- "Then see this as a gift from one friend to another."

She saw that he was very curious and yet perplexed and she offered him her hand and he took it hesitantly. She did lead him down the stairs to the courtyard in front of the stables and Rick joined them. He had taken to the habit of wearing a leather kilt instead of pants and it did suit him. She had teased him and told him he looked like something out of a highlander movie.

Legolas also came and Shoroya was rubbing her hands together, giggling like a mad. She could have asked to be returned home or to be freed of her powers but no, she had wanted the queen to get well again and she had wished the same for Legolas. And she had gotten a small idea for the king too. She opened one of the great door and behind it was a herd of horses, she remembered how amazed the king had been by the Arabians in the book she had brought and this was a herd of Arabians and a couple of amazing warlanders. The king just stared, his eyes looked a bit like dinner plates and Legolas squealed with delight. One of the horses walked forth and sniffed him, it was a gorgeous black stallion and the prince was utterly in love right away.

Shoroya just grinned. "I asked him to get a herd of good horses, now, what do you think?"

The king was just gawking and he opened his mouth and closed it again like a fish on dry land. Eventually he managed to say something. "For us?!"

She nodded. "All of them. The two great black ones are of a breed known as a warlander, they are destriers. "

Thranduil just stood there blinking and she winked at Rick and grasped his hand. "I think we'll leave them too it then. I have better things to do tonight. "

Rick grinned and kissed her with hunger and they retired to their room, leaving the flabbergasted king and his son to get over the shock and get familiarized with the amazing horses. She had of course wished that she no longer would change if she and Rick had sex so she did no longer have to worry, they had an eternity of fun to look forward to.

Slowly the queen started to remember what she had been through and it was revealed that her fëa had tried to seek out her beloved ones, to warn them and tell them where she was. Legolas had seen her in his dreams and sensed her presence and Shoroya had been able to sense her despair and desperation too. The queen had become very timid and she barely left her chambers but slowly, very slowly she managed to return to her old self although she still was tormented by nightmares every now and then. That would not stop on this side of the sundering sea.

In the years to come she and Rick became an integrated part of the defense of greenwood, they were respected and loved and had their own little place in the woods. They fought alongside the elves against the threat of Dol guldur but they fought in the shadows and at night, they didn't let anyone see them. It would be dangerous if the enemy learned about their existence. When the ring was destroyed they joined Legolas in his attempt at restoring Ithilien and they returned to Greenwood when he finally sailed. They stayed with the king and queen until the age of elves came to its absolute end and followed the last of them across the sea. In Valinor there were great woods to explore and adventure to be had and the panther and the wolf would often be seen accompanying Oromê on his hunting trips. Until the breaking of the world they would continue to watch over the elves of Greenwood and with the wolf and the panther by their side they would never again have to fear the darkness.


End file.
